StableWoman Gazette - The Cloud Foundation

For Immediate Release

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Independent Review Too Late for Wild Horses and Burros?

Moratorium on roundups must accompany National Academy of Sciences review

Colorado Springs, CO (August 27, 2010)— The Cloud Foundation fully supports the independent review of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) mismanagement of America’s Wild Horses and Burros by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), but only if it is coupled with an immediate moratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups. 54 members of Congress requested both the review and an immediate moratorium in a letter sent to Secretary of Interior Salazar on July 31, 2010. Each herd is an integral part of the ecosystem and without a moratorium there will be few genetically viable herds on Western lands in left to study. The NAS review of the flawed Wild Horse and Burro program is scheduled to begin in 2011 and last two years, but at the current rage BLM will have removed tens of thousands more mustangs from their legally designated ranges in 10 western states by then. In just this fiscal year alone, BLM has removed nearly 12,000 wild horses and burros, most warehoused at taxpayer expense.

“At the fast and furious rate of the removals, the NAS study will have far less value with so few wild horses and burros remaining on their home ranges. They will however, have the opportunity to study BLM’s techniques at managing over 40,000 captured wild horses,” explains Cloud Foundation Director and Emmy award-winning producer, Ginger Kathrens, who has been documenting wild horses and burros in the west for over 16 years. Kathrens is referring to the 40,000 plus mustangs, which will be corralled in short and long term holding by the end of next month. “I expect the NAS report to be enlightening regarding the lack of science in BLM’s decisions aimed at ridding the West of our wild horse and burro heritage. A moratorium right now is essential so that NAS will have a few viable herds left to study.”

The Cloud Foundation and over 200 organizations and celebrities sent a request for independent review in the Moratorium Letter over nine months ago and have never gotten a reply from Interior Secretary Salazar or President Obama. The signees continue to request an immediate moratorium on roundups to be coupled with an independent review of BLM and the return of the over 24 million acres of public land taken away from the wild horses and burros since 1971.

Links of interest:

Congress Sends Letter to Secretary Salazar http://bit.ly/54sign

Unified Moratorium on Roundups Letter http://bit.ly/MoratoriumLtr

Judge Denies BLM’s Motion to Dismiss Wild Horse Lawsuit http://bit.ly/BLMdenied

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y

Short-link to this release online:

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation makendra@thecloudfoundation.org, 719-633-3842

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org

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Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Judge Denies BLM Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit to Preserve World Famous Wild Horse Herd

Court Declares Challenge to BLM Mismanagement to be “Ripe for Review”

Washington D.C. (August 27, 2010)— On August 25^th United States District Judge, James S. Gwin, granted a legal request by The Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and photographer/author Carol Walker, to file a Second Amended Complaint against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) actions in the mismanagement of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horses. The ruling allows addition of the United States Forest Service (USFS) to the suit. The Custer National Forest is presently moving forward with building a restrictive boundary fence to prevent the wild horses from accessing crucial current and historical summer grazing lands. Judge Gwin ruled that the Plaintiffs’ claim against the fence is not moot as the fence could be removed or further fence building activities stopped should subsequent legal decisions rule in the Plaintiffs’ favor. Judge Gwin ordered the BLM and USFS to answer the Second Amended Complaint within 30 days.

“BLM’s tactic of completing removals of wild horses and burros from the range in whirlwind fashion and avoiding legal challenges to its underlying management of these animals did not work in this case,” explained Valerie J. Stanley. Attorneys Valerie J. Stanley and Bruce A. Wagman represent the Plaintiffs in this action.

In his decision, Judge Gwin wrote that “[the] government is also incorrect that the Plaintiffs’ claim challenging the 1987 Custer National Forest Plan is time-barred” and found the Cloud Foundation’s legal challenge to BLM’s use of a Categorical Exclusion that BLM uses to avoid analyzing the environmental impacts of the processing of wild horses and burros removed from the range to be “ripe for review because it is a purely legal question fit for judicial review.”

The ruling represents a significant step forward in the Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and Carol Walker’s legal attempts to protect the beloved and historically significant Pryor wild horses. Commonly known as “Cloud’s herd”, the horses are descendents of the horses of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Lewis and Clark expedition and Crow War Ponies.

“We will never give up fighting to preserve this unique herd,” explains Cloud Foundation Director and Emmy award-winning producer, Ginger Kathrens, who has been documenting the Pryor Wild Horses for over 16 years. “They have a right to live free on lands we know they have continuously roamed for centuries. Attempting to fence them out of their home is unconscionable.”

Kathrens journey with the wild stallion she named Cloud began when he was just hours old. It represents the only on-going documentation of a wild animal from birth in our hemisphere.

Links of interest:

Judge Gwin’s Opinion and Order http://bit.ly/Gwin35

The Fencing Off of Cloud's Herd http://bit.ly/NoFence

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild

Horses http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y

Short-link to this release online: http://bit.ly/BLMdenied

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation makendra@thecloudfoundation.org, 719-633-3842

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org

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Media Contacts:

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Oregon Wild Horse Herd Next on BLM Chopping Block

BLM aims choppers at American mustangs and young foals

Portland, OR (August 18, 2010)—The Stinkingwater wild horse herd of Southeastern Oregon is slated for a near complete removal in a summer helicopter roundup scheduled to begin today. Concerned citizens in Oregon and across the country have been calling for a stop to this unnecessary and costly action. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to roundup all 214 wild horses and young foals they claim live in the area and release back only 40, leaving 20 stallions and 20 mares. At least one mare with a less than two-week-old foal are in danger from this roundup. Horses will be pushed over miles of rugged country criss-crossed with barbed wire fences in this roundup planned to last five days.

“The range is beautiful with abundant water and forage but it is managed as a cattle ranch- not as a wild horse range”, explains Cloud Foundation Associate Director, Makendra Silverman, who visited the range last week in a Herd-Watch capacity. “I found a less than one-week old foal and named him Pluto, assuming he is the last foal of the season. Running Pluto over these sharp volcanic rocks and rough terrain even a mile could be fatal.”

Although outnumbered 20:1 by privately-owned livestock in Stinkingwater, BLM has determined that only 40 wild horses may live on this 133 square-mile range. Minimal genetically-viable levels are set at 150-200 adult horses. Not one Oregon herd, including the famous Kiger mustangs, have herd levels set above 150.

“We’ve seen this again and again,” explains Cloud Foundation Director, Ginger Kathrens. “BLM sets their ridiculously low “appropriate” management levels at non-viable numbers and then turns around and zeros out the entire wild horse or burro herd for being ‘too small to manage’—the American public wants our wild herds preserved, not destroyed.”

Advocates fear that deaths will occur in Stinkingwater as a helicopter runs panicked horses and foals through a maze of barbed-wire fences.

“In 1990 the Government Accountability Office Report underscored that wild horse removals did not significantly improve range conditions,” explains Kathrens. “The report pointed to cattle as the culprit as they vastly outnumber horses on BLM-managed public lands and reported that wild horse removals are not linked to range conditions, noting the lack of data provided by BLM. Oregon has lost over half of the original wild horse and burro herds designated for protection in 1971.”

“I hope that I might return to find Pluto and his family safe in Stinkingwater- enjoying the precious freedom granted to them by Congress but so often dismissed by the BLM” concludes Silverman.

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Links of interest:

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Special http://bit.ly/stampede2ext

Makendra's blog post "a visit to Stinkingwater" http://bit.ly/VisitSW

Wild Horse Roundup Begins in California http://bit.ly/cuUZQN

PR Firm Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds http://bit.ly/czf3HB

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y

Short-link to this release online: http://bit.ly/stinkingwater

Short-link to photos available for download: http://bit.ly/SWphotos

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress

Photos online here- also video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation makendra@thecloudfoundation.org, 719-633-3842

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org

#####

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Two-Week-Old Wild Horse Shot and Killed Before California Roundup

Advocates ask for investigation

Sacramento, CA (August 13, 2010)—The body of a wild horse foal was found near the site of the Twin Peaks roundup Wednesday by Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and Cloud Foundation Board member, and Chrystie Davis, wild horse advocate. Davis, an experienced horsewoman, examined the foal for any broken bones. What she found was an apparent rope burn on a rear leg as well as a gunshot wound.

“It seems as though the foal was shot in the gut,” Davis states. “It looked as though the foal was abused, lassoed around the hind legs and dragged.”

The foal, approximately 2 weeks old, was killed prior to the start of the controversial Twin Peaks Herd Management Area roundup in Northern California. When Davis told BLM officials about finding the gunshot foal, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee, Carman Prisco, told Davis she must be confused and the dead animal was an antelope. Photos taken by Downer confirmed that this is indeed a wild horse foal.

Photographs taken at the capture site, set on sharp lava rock, reveal blood stains within the trap.

Mustang advocates ask BLM law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation into the abuse and death of the federally protected wild horse—killed before independent contractor, Cattoor Livestock, began rounding up wild horses with helicopters.

Field reports from those on the ground noted a severely injured white stallion that suffered head trauma supposedly from fighting with other stallions in tightly packed transport vehicles. Even though the injury was serious, the BLM contractor was quoted as saying a vet “might need” to be called. The whereabouts of that stallion are currently unknown. Another stallion was off loaded into a pen with eight mules that attacked him, causing traumatic injuries. This incident was also brought to the attention of the BLM by public observers.

Advocates were told yesterday that there were no injuries, yet when they went to look at the horses in holding, the area was blocked off. They were told that they could not access the area because the “injured horses” needed to rest.

Injuries are not uncommon in roundups and underscore the need for public access, says Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation and EMMY Award-winning producer.

“Access is absolutely essential and is granted by the Constitution,” says Kathrens. “The ‘acceptable’ suffering of these horses is simply not acceptable to the caring public.”

Laura Leigh, Cloud Foundation Herd Watch coordinator, agrees.

“If this is what we see when the BLM actually allows us in, what happens when they black out their actions to the press and public?” asks Leigh, plaintiff for the Tuscarora round-up that ended July 20 in Nevada, “The time for real Congressional intervention is long overdue.”

The recent round-up in Tuscarora, Nevada—also run by Cattoor Livestock—resulted in the deaths of thirty-six wild horses.

Links of interest:

Wild Horse Roundup Begins in California http://bit.ly/cuUZQN

PR Firm Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds http://bit.ly/czf3HB

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

The Mustang Conspiracy: Sex, Drugs, Corruption, and BP – investigative report http://www.abovetopsecret.com/mustangconspiracy/

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress

Photos, video and interviews available from: The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org

#####

Media Contacts:
Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Statement from The Cloud Foundation and Katie Fite with Western Watershed Project Responding to the End of the Tuscarora Roundup

Reno, NV (Aug 4, 2010) —"The Tuscarora roundup accurately characterizes a government agency who treads heavily on the First Amendment Rights of American citizens while they destroy a beloved icon of the West," explains Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation and Emmy Award-winning producer.

"Originally the BLM locked down the area—to dissuade press and observers from covering the roundup for the first two weeks. We can only imagine the dirty work the BLM did not want us to see," says Laura Leigh, Herd Watch Director for The Cloud Foundation. "Even as an accredited member of the press and member of the public I was not allowed to observe any horses during the deadly Owyhee roundup. It is absolutely unacceptable that our government can operate in such a cloak and dagger manner with a resource so important to the American people. This kind of secretive action cannot be allowed to happen again. It is a clear violation of the checks and balances afforded in our Constitution."

"It is horrific to see dead horses off rocky cliffs as a result of the Tuscarora roundup," says Anne Novak spokesperson for The Cloud Foundation. "When the press and public are barred from bearing witness, we can only wonder what the contractor and the BLM are trying to hide."

Despite the BLM's spin doctors at work on the Tuscarora death toll, Katie Fite Biodiversity Director for Western Watersheds Project states, "The desert doesn't lie," reminding us the truth will be revealed.

Links of interest:

AP Reports: 34 Dead in roundup in northeast Nevada http://bit.ly/bBA7TC <http://bit.ly/bBA7TC>

Washington Post reports on NV Roundup Resuming http://bit.ly/cRwhSc <http://bit.ly/cRwhSc>
BLM Roundup Contractor, Sue Cattoor, Interviewed on Tuscarora Roundup http://bit.ly/cjL6xu <http://bit.ly/cjL6xu>

Plenty of Water in Tuscarora http://bit.ly/9fChBq <http://bit.ly/9fChBq>

BLM Team Conspires to Clear Out Wild Horses http://farmwars.info/?p=3222 <http://farmwars.info/?p=3222>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>

Legal Defense for Laura Leigh www.GrassRootsHorse.com <http://www.GrassRootsHorse.com/>

Tuscarora/Owyhee Complex Roundup Information from BLM http://bit.ly/Tuscarora <http://bit.ly/Tuscarora>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>
PR Firm Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds http://bit.ly/czf3HB <http://bit.ly/czf3HB>
Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>
Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress <http://bit.ly/TCFpress>

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

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Nevada Judge Refuses to Hear Contempt Charges Against BLM

Advocates want transparency, full public access and their First Amendment rights upheld

Reno NV (July 29, 2010)—Tuesday Judge Hicks refused to hear Laura Leigh’s motion for contempt against the BLM who denied her access to view the Owyhee/Tuscarora roundup that ended July 20th. Earlier, on July 16, 2010, the court ruled to honor Leigh’s First Amendment rights, emphasizing her right to view the roundup in Elko Country, northeastern Nevada.

“If the court refuses to listen to new arguments, then Secretary Salazar’s rogue agency—the BLM—is literally accountable to no one,” states Leigh, Director of Herd Watch, a Cloud Foundation program.

When Leigh sought access to the roundup the day after the ruling (July 17th), BLM officials told her she did not have permission to enter private land where they had placed the capture corrals, citing the landowner had written a letter refusing to allow the public onto his property. What Leigh saw was a letter allowing other public citizens (veterinarians) into the trap site. When she asked to be allowed to follow the same process as these other members of the public, she was told, because of the lawsuit she brought to the courtroom, she would most likely be denied. Further testimony revealed that the private landowner did indeed allow Leigh to witness the gather on the 19th, however BLM failed to allow access for Leigh and simply concluded their operations on the 20th.

“We want to have full access to see America’s wild horse roundups. This is the public’s right. We want to know how our American icons are treated especially during roundups in the hottest time of year when foals are still tiny,” explains Leigh. “The BLM is playing games and denying us access. At this point our only option is to go to court to hold the BLM accountable for the public’s wild horses.”

While attempting to observe the Owyhee roundup Leigh was followed by an Elko County Sheriff. She was on a county road miles from any town or even any ranch. The Sheriff indicated he could not tell her if she was on a county or a private road. But, if the road was private, he could arrest her. He indicated he could not radio the BLM for information, for lack of a radio, even though he had mentioned just speaking with the BLM. He could not call them, because there was no cell service, but would not agree to drive to a place where he might have cell service.

“Basically each time I asked for assistance in dealing with the BLM or the Sheriff’ the ‘I can’t help you,’ roadblocks went up and more hurdles were presented to jump over,” says Leigh. “Why did they go through so much trouble to keep me from observing the roundup?”

“The Nevada judge may have refused to hear the contempt charges brought against the BLM in a court of law, but the BLM’s actions are contemptuous and the public knows it,” states Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation. “Why does the BLM continue to drive our wild horses into private slivers of land in a sea of public land to round them up? Is it to hide from any scrutiny by the press or public observers?”

The BLM has already completed the Little Humboldt roundup. The Rock Creek roundup will be complete by weeks end. The entire Tuscarora roundup will have no more public observation scheduled than they had prior to the original Order of the Court recognizing Leigh’s First Amendment rights.

Kathrens points out that “Leigh was allowed to view fewer than 100 of the 1,200 wild American mustangs rounded up. The BLM’s blatant dismissal of First Amendment rights is alarming.”

The Tuscarora death toll is 22 horses and growing. Several foals less than three months of age have been killed in this roundup. Advocates for the horses warned that summer roundups would be extremely dangerous for small foals in the desert heat. The BLM contends that this is an appropriate time of year.

Statements made about the alleged emergency in the first of the three Tuscarora roundups (defined as an emergency only after the original lawsuit was filed) were expanded on in the defendants written affidavits. Photographs and affidavits from the plaintiff documented that the “emergency” was contained to only a small portion of the Owyhee area. The BLM launched misleading statements during the first ruling. The Court’s original ruling to allow the Owyhee gather to continue was based on a lack of information given to the Court. Expanded documentation was never allowed due to the current denial in the Reno district Federal Court.

“BLM needs to be accountable for their negligence”, states Leigh. “Creating apparent emergencies in order to clear away American mustangs is un-American. These animals deserve to roam freely on their land. They are a symbol of the American spirit.”

# # #

Case filings regarding the Tuscarora round ups can be read at
www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> .

To help keep gas in the Herd Watch tank
www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

To help with legal expenses
http://www.GrassRootsHorse.com <http://www.GrassRootsHorse.com/>

Links of interest:
Court documents http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/renewed-motion-for-tro-filed-today/
George Knapps 2 recent programs and helicopter ride w/ Laura
Court Order Granting Injunction 7/14 http://bit.ly/doc10LeighvSalazar <http://bit.ly/doc10LeighvSalazar>
‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>
Grass Roots Horse http://www.grassrootshorse.com/ <http://www.grassrootshorse.com/>
Restraining order sought - AP article http://bit.ly/TROsought <http://bit.ly/TROsought>
Tuscarora Mustangs fenced out of water http://bit.ly/Livestockfences <http://bit.ly/Livestockfences>
Roundup Schedule- updated July 12, 2010 http://bit.ly/roundupschedule <http://bit.ly/roundupschedule>
Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>
Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>
Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS <http://bit.ly/a7hOeS>
Link to this press release online http://bit.ly/LvSinjunction <http://bit.ly/LvSinjunction>

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress <http://bit.ly/TCFpress>

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation ~ Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org <mailto:Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org>
The Cloud Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842

#####

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

The Cloud Foundation Expands Lawsuit to Protect “Cloud's” Wild Horse Herd

Foundation includes Forest Service in lawsuit

Washington, D.C. (July 23, 2010)—On July 21 the Cloud Foundation, Front Range Equine Rescue and author/advocate Carol Walker filed an amended complaint <http://bit.ly/PryorsExpComplaint> in Federal District Court to add the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to their current suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The suit challenges both agencies’ rejection of a Natural Management Approach for the herd and the planned construction of a two-mile long fence which would cut off the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Herd from crucial summer and fall grazing lands they’ve used for centuries. This small herd is the world’s most famous and the last remaining in Montana, sometimes called “Cloud’s herd” for the now-15-year old band stallion who TCF Director and plaintiff Ginger Kathrens has documented for the popular PBS Nature series. The herd traces its history back to the horses of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Lewis and Clark expedition horses, and Crow Indian War ponies. Plaintiffs contend that the USFS and BLM are engaging in illegal treatment of these federally-protected mustangs and that the Pryor Wild Horses are entitled to use lands in the Custer National Forest, currently not included in the designated range.

Plaintiffs in the litigation include Front Range Equine Rescue based in Larkspur, CO; Carol Walker, equine photographer and author of “Wild Hoofbeats: America’s Vanishing Wild Horses”; and Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation and Emmy-Award winning producer with 16 years experience documenting and observing the Pryor Mountain herd.

“People value the whole spectacular Pryor ecosystem including this unique Spanish wild horse herd. Seeing the area fragmented by new fencing across pristine, wide-open meadows degrades the experience of visiting this area with true wilderness values,” states Kathrens. “Beyond the visual and environmental damage, it will compromise the future of Cloud’s globally-beloved herd. Forest Service should be working to set this area aside as a designated wilderness rather than working on how to build a bigger, stronger barrier to keep the Pryor horses from their rightful and essential high mountain meadows.”

Building the fence, cattle guard and gates would illegally confine horses to jurisdictional boundaries, restricting their natural and long-held seasonal pattern of use on East Pryor Mountain. Centuries old horse trails go straight through the line now flagged for construction of the fence, estimated to cost taxpayers between $25,000 and $100,000, not including USFS planning costs which, according to USFS, greatly exceed the cost of building the fence.

“The Forest Service has fought efforts to expand the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range to allow the herd to engage in their historical and seasonal migrations. Confining wild horse herds to smaller and smaller areas of the public lands lays the groundwork for more intrusive management and manipulation as the Forest Service and BLM contend that these animals will need to be removed from the wild for their own good,” states lead attorney, Valerie Stanley.

For a four-year period in the early 2000s the Pryor Herd was at zero population growth due to mountain lion predation on the foals, as well as the ever-present harsh winter weather and deadly lightning storms. The population of the herd increased only after BLM encouraged the killing of mountain lions. “The public has overwhelmingly supported allowing the herd the opportunity to manage itself. Apparently, BLM and the Forest Service think Mother Nature can’t get along without them,” Stanley concludes.

Over 100 wild horses have been using the Custer National Forest this month, which constitutes the majority of the Pryor Mountain wild horses, of which less than 150 adults remain in the wild following a massive roundup in September 2009. The Custer National Forest has not explained how the wild horses would be driven them back into the designated horse range. At least two new foals were born last week on the mountaintop and more births are anticipated. Running these young mustangs is dangerous and inhumane and can be fatal as has been proven during recent BLM roundups in Nevada and Oregon.

The area immediately adjacent to the designated range is not currently allocated for livestock grazing, but the Cloud Foundation questions USFS motives in blocking horses from this public land. Actions by the USFS are based, not on damage by the horses to the ecosystem, but seemingly on complaints from livestock permittees. Plaintiffs wonder if USFS is arranging for the building of this fence to facilitate cattle grazing on what would be a new livestock allotment on scenic subalpine meadows used annually by wild horses, mule deer, black bears and an array of small animals in the summer and fall.

“Wild horses have used these Forest Service lands for centuries. BLM and Forest Service have so far failed to work together to expand the range, using natural boundaries which encompass the mustangs’ use area, for the good of the herd and the public that loves them,” explains Front Range Equine Rescue President/Founder, Hilary Wood.

Historically, BLM directed livestock permittees on public grazing land to round up wild horses by aircraft. Once captured, the wild horses were either killed and butchered on the range or were shipped live to meat packing plants. In 1968, a public outcry was launched, spurred by local residents and ABC reporter, author and TCF Honorary Board Member, Hope Ryden. Ryden’s discovery of plans to trap and remove the Pryor Horses despite BLM assertions to the contrary caused a national outcry. In response, then Secretary of the Interior Stuart Udall issued an Executive Order creating the first public range ever dedicated in the United States for the protection of wild horses. The 39,000-acre range was intended to protect the horses, other wildlife, and the natural state of the area. At the time, none of the Custer National Forest Service lands were included, as that was outside of Interior Secretary Udall’s jurisdiction.

“Treating the wild horses as if they are livestock by fencing them into one small section of their traditional use area will not just harm the mustangs, but also the public who can more easily access the Forest Service lands to experience a wildlife display unlike any in North America,” states plaintiff Carol Walker. “I don’t understand why the Forest Service would want to deprive the public from experiencing this kind of natural wild horse wilderness.”

“Wild horses need to be treated like wild horses—not livestock. Right now the public can easily access the Forest Service lands and experience a wildlife display unlike any other,” states plaintiff Carol Walker. “We want the Forest Service to immediately abandon plans to build the fence.”

###

Links of interest:
Expanded Complaint http://bit.ly/PryorsExpComplaint

Front Range Equine Rescue: http://www.frontrangeequinerescue.org <http://www.frontrangeequinerescue.org/>

Carol Walker: http://www.wildhoofbeats.com <http://www.wildhoofbeats.com/>
‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>
Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS <x-msg://90/%22>
Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress <http://bit.ly/TCFpress>

Link to this press release online http://bit.ly/pryorscomplaint <http://bit.ly/pryorscomplaint>
Video, High-resolution photos, and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842
www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Renewed Motion Filed to Stop Rock Creek Wild Horse Roundup in NV

Herd Watch Director Continues Fight for First Amendment Rights

Reno NV (July 23, 2010)—Laura Leigh, Herd-Watch <applewebdata://907999DF-B656-44D8-885A-85F71E1B7CB6/%22http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/inde> Director for the Cloud Foundation and journalist, filed a Temporary Restraining Order <http://thecloudfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/doc-24.pdf> (TRO) in Nevada Federal District Court today to halt the Rock Creek Roundup and prevent a repeat fatal summer roundup and the shutting out of the public and plaintiff from observing wild horse roundups.

"We're talking about a matter of public interest," explained Leigh’s attorney Gordon Cowan. "This is a hot button issue here in Nevada. To prevent the public and press from observing the government in action on public lands is shameful."

Leigh is asking the court for the following:

1.) Immediate cessation of all horse gather activity in the Rock Creek and Little Humboldt Horse Management Areas in northwestern Elko County, to maintain the status quo until the matter may be heard by the court. There is no purported emergency or pressing urgency to remove horses from
purported drought conditions as was contended by Defendants, in Owyhee;

2.) A Temporary Restraining Order enjoining the government Defendants from conducting helicopter wild horse gathers during summer months and so close to the foaling season. There are many foals three months in age
or less, running alongside the hips of their moms. If removal of some of these horses is necessary, in that event the Defendants can reschedule and complete this process in the Fall season or at the end of Summer when temperatures are more mild and foals are more mature and better adept at withstand the gather. To gather at this date is inhumane and directly contradictory to provisions of the Free Roaming Wild Horse and
Burro Act of 1971;

3.) A Temporary Restraining Order that at this point requires the Defendants in no uncertain terms to include and accommodate members of the public, the press and journalists including Ms. Leigh and others who are not
hand-picked by the Defendants, to view every step of the process of gathering horses from public lands, such that the Defendants’ gather method and process becomes open and transparent from beginning to
end, rather than secretive and hidden from the public as it is currently; and such that the method of protecting the health and safety of the public during these gathers is not used as the excuse to restrict, limit or
otherwise offend First Amendment speech and press concerns but instead, ensures independence in observing and reporting the Defendants’ gather activities in a method encouraging liberal access and
safe accommodation to the public including Ms. Leigh, to observe and record these gathers;

4.) To require the Defendants to conduct such gathers on public lands should private land owners not be willing or able to accommodate members of the public, the press, journalists or other interested persons including Ms.
Leigh, in their observation of these gathers.

In his decision issued on July 16, Nevada District court Judge Larry Hicks recognized that the Owyhee complex roundups consist of three distinct and separate actions. Although BLM presented to the court claims that an unexpected and unprecedented emergency existed in the Owyhee herd management area, no emergency either claimed or proven exists in Rock Creek were BLM is currently rounding up horses. The public was permitted to observe the roundup for a short time only today.

“We hope the TRO will be granted and the case can be heard before all the horses are gone from Rock Creek and Little Humboldt herd management areas,” stated Leigh.

According to the TRO the BLM used the “private property” tactic to strike fear among those seeking to observe the Defendants’ gather operation. Members of the public were threatened with immediate, on-the-spot arrest should they “trespass,” intentionally or not, onto the very land the Defendants chose to set their horse traps to complete the Owyhee gather <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/425-injunction> .

Nearly two-dozen wild horses, including many foals, have already died as a result of the BLM’s Tuscarora roundups from which the agency plans to remove 1,100 wild horses and leave only 440.

Contrary to the BLM’s spin that the Owyhee horses were dying due to lack of water in their environment—a so called “emergency”, veterinarian Nina Windand goes on the record to explain the wild horses died due to the lack of proper care after being rounded up and stressed in desert heat.

“The lack of controlled reintroduction of water to these dehydrated, overheated recently stressed horses and the failure to use commonsense horsemanship by letting them drink ad lib under these conditioned caused unnecessary deaths by water intoxication,” states Nina Windand, DVM. “It is my opinion that this constitutes negligent management and that had expert or even common sense management prevailed a plan for gradual rehydration would have been instituted before the gather was in progress, not after the initial wave of deaths. I further believe that leaving animals in this condition without overnight monitoring was a lapse of professional judgment.”

Dr. Windand condemns the Owyhee roundup <http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/elko_field_office/blm_programs/wild_horse_and_burro/owyhee_rock_creek/reports.html> saying, “The uncontroverted fact remains that nearly all horses who reportedly perished, did so during the
process of gather itself or immediately thereafter while the horses were in the custody of the BLM, but not before”.

BLM continues to ignore both the public’s first amendment rights and wild horse welfare. Advocates are outraged that BLM continues forward, at rapid speed, with their multi-million dollar roundups as the agency strives to remove more than 6,000 wild horses and burros in the next three months.

Donations to Leigh’s legal fund may be made to www.GrassRootsHorse.com <http://www.GrassRootsHorse.com/>
Donations to Herd-Watch may be made to www.TheCloudFoundation.org <applewebdata://907999DF-B656-44D8-885A-85F71E1B7CB6/%22http://www.TheClo>

# # #

Links of interest:

Judge’s motion for response Monday: http://bit.ly/July23order <applewebdata://907999DF-B656-44D8-885A-85F71E1B7CB6/%22>

All court documents filed today: http://bit.ly/July23LLvSalazar <applewebdata://907999DF-B656-44D8-885A-85F71E1B7CB6/%22>

George Knapp/KLAS reports & helicopter ride w/ Leigh: http://bit.ly/iteamOwyhee <applewebdata://907999DF-B656-44D8-885A-85F71E1B7CB6/%22>

George Knapp’s column on BLM secrecy: http://bit.ly/GKnapp <applewebdata://907999DF-B656-44D8-885A-85F71E1B7CB6/%22>

CNN Tuscarora/Ruby Pipeline Coverage: http://bit.ly/CNNnvmustangs <http://bit.ly/CNNnvmustangs>

BLM daily reports on Tuscarora roundups: http://bit.ly/Tuscarora

Court Order Granting Injunction 7/14 http://bit.ly/doc10LeighvSalazar <applewebdata://907999DF-B656-44D8-885A-85F71E1B7CB6/%22http://bit.ly/doc10LeighvSalaz>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>

Restraining order sought - AP article http://bit.ly/TROsought <http://bit.ly/TROsought>

Tuscarora Mustangs fenced out of water http://bit.ly/Livestockfences <http://bit.ly/Livestockfences>
Roundup Schedule- updated July 12, 2010 http://bit.ly/roundupschedule <http://bit.ly/roundupschedule>
Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>
Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS
Link to this press release online http://bit.ly/LLvSalazarJuly23PR <http://bit.ly/LLvSalazarJuly23PR>

Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress <http://bit.ly/TCFpress>

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation ~ Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842- www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org>

#####

Contacts:

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

BLM Above the Law?

Salazar’s Agency Ignores Federal Court Order Honoring First Amendment, Denies Observers Access to Wild Horse Roundup

Reno, NV (July 19, 2010)—Laura Leigh, Herd Watch Project Coordinator for The Cloud Foundation, has been denied access to observe the Owyhee roundup, the first leg of the Tuscarora roundup near Elko, Nevada. On July 16th, Federal Judge Larry Hicks’ ruled Leigh’s First Amendment rights be upheld and therefore allow her and others to view the roundup. Leigh contends that the BLM has gone against the Judge’s orders for three days. Today Leigh filed a motion to uphold the court order for her First Amendment rights.

“We cannot know the truth because they are preventing us from bearing witness.” Says Leigh.

BLM officials refused to tell her where the trap site was located. They had strategically placed it on private land within the public herd management area (HMA) even though the range contains more than 450,000 acres of public land. The private landowner would not grant Leigh and others access. BLM used this method before to hide the Calico roundup from the public and journalists except for rare staged “media days”.

The helicopter stampede resumed as soon as the Judge lifted the injunction last Friday. Since then BLM has captured 620 mustangs and their young foals in the sweltering heat. More than 17 wild horses have been killed during the roundup. At least 2 foals were shot (euthanized) because of leg deformities resulting in lameness after being run over many miles of volcanic rock. Advocates question the accuracy of the diagnosis—pointing to evidence that lameness previously was caused by running the hoofs off the baby horses during last winter’s Calico roundup in Nevada also run by Cattoor Livestock, the private contractor who will be paid close to one million dollars for this roundup.

The BLM has created an alleged wild horses dehydration emergency by fencing mustangs off from water and running them scared by helicopter into traps. Advocates feel it is inhumane that the BLM is not treating the wild horses in the wild for dehydration but instead the BLM continues to chase them, round them up and ship the wild horses crammed in huge trucks for more than 5 hours to a temporary holding facility—all in the desert heat.

“These are wild animals. If this alleged emergency was happening to deer or big horn sheep the BLM would not be terrifying them by helicopter chase and then trucking them for half a day in the sweltering heat to be cared for at a distant location. Traditionally you care for distressed wild animals in the wild,” states Makendra Silverman, Associate Director of The Cloud Foundation. “And isn’t it curious that other wildlife or cattle isn’t suffering extreme dehydration out on the same range?”

Leigh had filed a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to stop this roundup and defend the public’s first amendment rights to observe the operation. BLM testified in federal court that no cattle remained on the range and that the horses had no water—even though a river is only 10 miles away, a short distance to travel for wild horses who under normal circumstances may travel twice that distance in daily treks to get a drink.

4,000 privately-owned cattle are permitted to graze (and drink) on the Tuscarora Complex where BLM permits only 400 mustangs. Made up by three separate HMAs: Owyhee, Little Humboldt and Rock Creek, the area is to be managed by BLM principally (though not exclusively) for the federally protected wild horses.

The foundation wants to know what is stopping the horses from accessing the Owyhee River and other perennial water sources? Are gates locked and vast areas fenced for livestock in the HMA?

“BLM’s emergency roundups are classified as such before the action begins. The three Tuscarora roundups were never described as emergencies. Suddenly, with the BLM challenged in court and 12 dead horses from the first day’s roundup their operation has suddenly morphed into an ‘emergency rescue’ roundup,” states Cloud Foundation Director, Ginger Kathrens, who has 16 years experience documenting wild horses in the West. “There is really no way to accurately assess the real, on-the-ground situation because the public is still being denied access. Is BLM resorting to any means just to carry out an agenda to rid the western ranges of wild horses?”

The three Tuscarora roundups (Owyhee, Little Humbolt and Rock Creek) were scheduled months ago as a standard BLM operation. The wild horses were found to be healthy. The primary reason for the roundups was because the wild horses were allegedly damaging livestock fencing. The public, mustang advocates, animal welfare groups and equine experts warned against summer helicopter roundups in the desert heat. The BLM ignored the comments.

The Cloud Foundation calls for immediate access to be given to all members of the interested public and for the addition of at least two knowledgeable wild horse advocates to BLM’s assembled team of insiders to determine what went wrong in the Owyhee disaster.

“Right now BLM plans to zero out the entire West Douglas herd in Colorado against a Federal Judge’s specific ruling to leave the herd intact. For the past three days, BLM ignored Judge Hicks’ ruling for the First Amendment,” states Kathrens. “Who will stop Salazar’s rogue bureau before they ruin the West?”

# # #

Links of interest:
Washington Post reports on NV Roundup Resuming http://bit.ly/cRwhSc
NBC Reno reports BLM Still Restricting Public Access to Roundup http://bit.ly/bE2wiJ
Leigh vs Salazar Documents filed 7/19 that relate to Leigh's attempt to observe the Owyhee roundup and uphold her First Amendment rights:

Motion for Contempt http://bit.ly/bSAZax <http://bit.ly/bSAZax>

Declaration for Motion http://bit.ly/9AY4x5 <http://bit.ly/9AY4x5>

Exhibit A DOI Letter http://bit.ly/aL8w95 <http://bit.ly/aL8w95>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>
Court Order Granting Injunction http://bit.ly/doc10LeighvSalazar <http://bit.ly/doc10LeighvSalazar>

Grass Roots Horse http://www.grassrootshorse.com/ <http://%22appl>

BLM daily reports on Tuscarora roundup http://bit.ly/TuscaroraReports <http://bit.ly/TuscaroraReports>

Roundup Schedule- updated July 12, 2010 http://bit.ly/roundupschedule
The Mustang Conspiracy: Sex, Drugs, Corruption, and BP – investigative report http://www.abovetopsecret.com/mustangconspiracy/ <http://www.abovetopsecret.com/mustangconspiracy/>
Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS <http://bit.ly/a7hOeS>
Tuscarora/Owyhee Complex Roundup Information from BLM http://bit.ly/Tuscarora <http://bit.ly/Tuscarora>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>
PR Firm Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds http://bit.ly/czf3HB <http://bit.ly/czf3HB>
Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>
Past Cloud Foundation press releases http://bit.ly/TCFpress <http://bit.ly/TCFpress>

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Opposition Grows for California Roundup of 2,500 Wild Mustangs and Burros

Northern CA Twin Peaks herd is targeted for a destructive multi-million dollar summer roundup

San Francisco, CA (July 7, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> opposes and is calling for a stop to the proposed roundup of over 2,500 mustangs and burros from one of the last viable herds in California. To avoid conflicting with deer hunting season, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plans to unleash contracted helicopters in the August heat to round up 2,500 mustangs and burros, including their young foals, from the Twin Peaks Range near Susanville. Vastly outnumbered by thousands of corporate-owned destructive livestock <http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/coyote-killing-public-lands-grazing-report/> , the public’s wild horses and burros are the BLM’s scapegoats for damage on the range. Over 2,000 are now slated for removal despite healthy range conditions and an outdated census.

Anne Novak, with the Cloud Foundation, is an East Bay resident and fifth generation Californian. She visited the HMA outside of Susanville last week and recounts, “We were looking forward to seeing a lot of wild horses on the range after hearing the BLM’s reasons for the proposed roundup but we didn’t see any horses at all. We found three pronghorn and a small group of burros after covering the range all day on safari.”

The Twin Peaks wild horse and burro herd area is larger than the state of Rhode Island at 1,250 square miles. Despite the vast landscape, BLM wants to slash the herd from what they claim are 2,585 horses and burros to only 450 wild horses and 74 burros.

“We spent all day with BLM on a scheduled tour, combing the Twin Peaks area looking for wild horses and burros. We found a grand total of 20 wild horses including one foal and no burros,” explains Deb Coffey who traveled from Los Angeles to see the horses. “I really don’t believe that there are thousands of wild horses in the area.”

The BLM census estimates have come under increased scrutiny after the Calico round up <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/298-mustang-death-toll-rises-without-public-oversight-22510> in which 1,922 horses could be found, even though BLM had estimated that closer to 3,000 wild horses occupied an area of over half a million acres. The Twin Peaks numbers are based on even wilder projections. BLM numbers indicate that the herd has doubled in size in three years—a biological impossibility.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> , Ginger Kathrens <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors> , has filed comments on behalf of thousands of supporters who want a freeze on all the roundups <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/192-unified-letter-requesting-a-moratorium-on-roundups> until an accurate and independent census is completed and a sustainable management plan is in effect.

“Obviously BLM doesn’t have a handle on how many wild horses and burros are living in their designated ranges,” explains Kathrens. “Twin Peaks is a perfect example of a lack of scientific range data which would include an accurate census. None of the numbers add up and nothing is consistent except BLM’s mismanagement of America’s treasured wild horses and burros.”

Carla Bowers, of Volcano California reminds fellow residents that the public may “voice their opposition to the rounding up of the increasingly rare California wild horses by calling Senator Feinstein at 415-393-0707 and Senator Boxer at 916-448-2787 as well as sending emails and faxes of concern to the Senators and their representatives.”

The BLM Eagle Lake Field Office <http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/eaglelake.html> in Susanville, which manages the Twin Peaks herd, reports receiving some 2,300 letters requesting cancellation of the roundup from individuals and groups but only 15 letters supporting the planned removal. Despite growing public outrage over BLM’s continuing massive roundups, which condemn wild horses to a life of confinement at taxpayer expense, BLM is expected to select alternative A (removing the maximum number of wild horses and burros) while allowing thousands of head of livestock to dominant the range.

“BLM prefers to excessively grant land use to damaging livestock rather than honor the wild horse’s unique place in the western ecosystem. If the government would consider adaptive and holistic management of America’s public land we would all reap the benefits,” adds wildlife ecologist and author, Craig Downer, who has spent 40 years on the range studying the survival strategies and contributions wild equids make to their home ranges. “When is BLM going to bring science to the table and give wild horses and the American taxpayer a break?”

The Cloud Foundation continues to ask for DOI’s assurance that the elimination of wild horse and burro herds across the West is not motivated by extractive industries. This is difficult to believe because tens of thousands of privately-owned livestock are grazing on herd management areas across the West and oil and gas exploration is rampant in some herd areas.

“We want to safeguard our wild horses and burros on public lands and stop these dangerous roundups. We want an independent census to know exactly how many are out there,” explains Novak, continuing with, “Once they’re gone they’re gone forever. This heritage area is the home of the last stronghold of wild mustangs in California.”

###

Quick facts on California’s Wild Horses and Burros

Lost herds on lost ground:
At the passage of the Wild horse and burro act of 1971 there were 38 Herds designated for protection on a total of 6.6 million acres of public land. Today only 22 remain on a mere 2.4 million acres. Livestock Grazing is allowed on 8.1 million acres (including acres allocated to wild horses and burros). BLM estimates that the current population of California wild horses/burros is 4,952 and aims to reduce that to only 2,201 animals. Currently approximately 43,750 privately-owned livestock graze on California’s public lands at highly subsidized rates.

Financial Cost of the Proposed Twin Peaks Roundup & Review of Grazing Fees
10,460 cattle and up to 22,000 sheep are permitted to graze on the Twin Peaks area while BLM’s “Appropriate” Management Level (AML) for burros falls short of genetic viability at a range of 72-116 and for wild horses is unreasonably low at 448-758. The estimated revenues generated annually from livestock grazing fees of $1.35 per cow/calf per month is $120,000 while the cost of the proposed roundup/processing of 1,980 wild horses and burros (assuming 420 of these will be adopted) is at least $4.2 million: 35 times annual grazing revenues. Additional costs of 1500 wild horses placed in long-term holding for a five year period adds $3.5 million to the cost of the proposed action. Grazing revenues for the same 5 year period don’t come close to covering the cost at only $600,000 gross. Nationwide the public lands ‘welfare’ grazing program costs taxpayers well over $123 million per year.

# # #

Links of interest:

Proposed Roundup of Wild Horses Criticized – Sacramento Bee 7/5/10 http://bit.ly/SacBeeMustang <%22>

BLM Eagle Lake Field Office Roundup Planning Documents http://bit.ly/EagleLakeBLM <%22>

The Mustang Conspiracy: Sex, Drugs, Corruption, and BP – investigative report http://www.abovetopsecret.com/mustangconspiracy/ <%22>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

American Herds Blog http://americanherds.blogspot.com/ <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>

Roundup Schedule- updated July 2010 http://bit.ly/2010roundup <%22>

PR Firm Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds http://bit.ly/czf3HB

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <%22http://bit.ly/bfdX1>

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS <http://bit.ly/a7hOeS>

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation ~ Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Request for Investigation Filed with FBI to Stop Calico Wild Horse Transport

The ‘Erin Brockovich of America’s Mustangs’ fights to return Nevada Wild Horses to Freedom

Reno, NV (June 21, 2010)—Cindy MacDonald, research expert and American Herds <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/> blogger has filed a request for investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) this afternoon to prevent the transport, adoption, and/or sale of non-excess Calico wild horses currently being held in BLM processing facilities. MacDonald is requesting an investigation into the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for attempting to dispose of the Calico wild horses prior to confirming that the recent removal operations left approximately 600-900 wild horses on the range as required by law.

From December 28, 2009 to February 7, 2010, BLM reported they removed 1922 wild horses from the Calico Complex in NW Nevada during the fatal winter roundup <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/298-mustang-death-toll-rises-without-public-oversight-22510> .

MacDonald contends that, “the BLM may have removed far too many Calico horses in a massive roundup last winter and failed to return, by BLM definition, ‘non-excess’ horses.” The BLM is required to leave at least 572 wild horses on the Calico range, the low level of their arbitrarily set “appropriate management level” (AML). Only horses above that level can be considered excess. Returning the horses would save at least $3 million dollars over the next ten years alone.

Early this month, wildlife ecologist Craig Downer carried out a flyover of the Calico Complex in a fixed-wing aircraft. Downer was able to find only 31 wild horses but noted 350 privately-owned cattle grazing on the Herd Management Areas (HMAs). Downer noted that “there was a reasonable spring green-up of the landscape and the open treeless character of the terrain permitted a high degree of horse detection”. An additional ground survey by Robert Bauer resulted in finding only 9 mustangs in Nevada’s Calico Complex region.

“Two recent independent observers report the Calico herds are gone,” states MacDonald, adding “there’s a vast difference between less than 50 and 600-900 wild horses. The public needs to be sure the BLM followed the law before those horses are shipped out.”

MacDonald points out that BLM is plagued with failures to properly count free-roaming wild horses and burros even though the agency attempts to develop new protocol to remedy these errors.

“While the BLM’s numbers rarely add up, the Calico fiasco is an extreme example of this from start to finish,” states MacDonald.

Responding to public comments during last Monday’s BLM Denver workshop <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/other-videos/384-adv> , the BLM announced Friday they will partner with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an aerial census of NW Nevada and SE Oregon. The BLM refuses to bring along The Cloud Foundation’s ‘Herd-Watch’ <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/news/wild-horse-issues/342-herdwatch> project director, Laura Leigh, on their census flights—continuing to demonstrate their closed-door protocol. The Foundation supports transparency and wants advocates involved in counting horses.

The BLM’s policy for massive removals through roundups, followed with stockpiling mustangs in government-contracted holding pens and mid-east pastures is not sustainable and is costing American taxpayers some $40 million per year.

“In this day and age of government budget crises, to waste the lives of these mustangs at a cost of millions of dollars to the American taxpayers is unconscionable,” statesGinger Kathrens <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors> , Director of The Cloud Foundation <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. “We call on BLM to show an act of good faith. We ask they put an immediate moratorium on all roundups is until we can partner together to sort this all out.”

# # #

Links of interest:

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Special http://bit.ly/stampede2ext <http://bit.ly/stampede2ext>

American Herds Blog http://americanherds.blogspot.com/ <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

June 14th Morning Department of Interior Public Workshop http://bit.ly/daN8gw <http://bit.ly/daN8gw>

Afternoon Department of Interior Public Workshop http://bit.ly/cyQCUe <http://bit.ly/cyQCUe>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/a0xcq7 <http://bit.ly/a0xcq7>

PR Firm Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds http://bit.ly/czf3HB

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

AP 6/16/10: “Two Nevada men plead guilty to killing wild mustangs” http://bit.ly/cvlCQZ <http://bit.ly/cvlCQZ>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press)

http://bit.ly/6UQleO <http://bit.ly/6UQleO>

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html>

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS <http://bit.ly/a7hOeS>

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation ~ Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Two Plead Guilty to Mustang Killings in Nevada

International Outcry Spurred by Wild Horse Shootings

Reno, NV (June 16, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> has learned that Todd Davis and Joshua Keathley have changed their pleas this morning from not guilty to guilty, waiving their planned trial in the case of shooting five free-roaming horses in northwestern Nevada (about 40 miles southeast of Cedarville, California). The pleas were made in Federal Court in Reno before US Magistrate Judge Robert McQuaid.

"We feel justice has been served at this point," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami told The Associated Press <http://bit.ly/cvlCQZ> . She added that she and U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden combined received a total of approximately 24,000 e-mails and letters from around the world.

When asked to describe the morning the shootings took place, Keathley explained: “we was out early in North Washoe and seen them wild horses and killed a few of them and then we left." Davis gave a similar account of the events, adding that the two had been drinking and looking for a place to set traps when they spotted a band of eight to ten mustangs. Keathley and Davis are represented by Tom Plimpton (retained) and John Springgate (CJA) respectively.

"We used poor judgment and shot a few of them." Davis said.

Davis and Keathley will remain free on bail, while their firearms remain in the custody of a county sheriff until sentencing Sept. 14, 2010 at 2 pm.

"Davis and Keathley admitted using public lands as their private shooting gallery, and to gathering their spent shells," said Terri Farley <http://www.terrifarley.com/> , author of the Phantom Stallion series of books, and a wild horse advocate, "They knew it was illegal to kill America's wild horses on public lands, but they didn't care."

The maximum sentence for maliciously causing the death and abetting the death and harassment of five wild horses is one year in county jail and a fine of $100,000. There is no possibility of parole.

“We commend Nevada State law enforcement and BLM law enforcement for apprehending these wild horse killers and we applaud the apparent willingness of prosecute to ask for the maximum penalties provided for under the law,” stated Cloud Foundation Director Ginger Kathrens <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors> . “The public loves their wild horses. It is an understatement to say we are outraged at this horrible act.”

Fahimi gave a fuller description of the November events, indicated that the two stopped driving when they saw the backs of horses. Keathley, shot first. "A light-colored horse went down," Fahimi said, and then Keathley handed the AR-15 rifle to Davis. "Davis began shooting at the others"

Five horses lay dying while Keathley picked up 8-10 spent ammunition casings.

# # #

Links of interest:

AP 6/16/10: “Two Nevada men plead guilty to killing wild mustangs” http://bit.ly/cvlCQZ

Accused to stand trial for wild horse shootings in Nevada, 4/21/10 press release http://bit.ly/cn3Hmd

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Wild Horse and Burro Act http://bit.ly/a7hOeS

Vanity Fair: A Solution to America’s Wild Horse Crisis? June 2010 http://bit.ly/a7Esyd <http://bit.ly/a7Esyd>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Special http://bit.ly/stampede2ext <http://bit.ly/stampede2ext>

Rolling Stone: The Spill, The Scandal and the President. June 2010 http://bit.ly/d3Bjcm <http://bit.ly/d3Bjcm>
Ken Salazar's "candy shop": Denver Post Guest Commentary, June 2010 http://bit.ly/aNbLz9 <http://bit.ly/aNbLz9>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/a0xcq7 <http://bit.ly/a0xcq7>

Informative Blog: American Herds http://americanherds.blogspot.com/ <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation ~ makendra@thecloudfoundation.org <mailto:makendra@thecloudfoundation.org>

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

######

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release:

Spin Doctors Hired for the Destruction of America’s Wild Horse and Burro Herds

BLM uses MMS’s PR and Public Affairs agency to facilitate Salazar’s agenda at June 14th public workshop in Denver—protest on June 15th

Denver, CO (June 14, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation has learned that the San Francisco based public relations and public affairs firm, Kearns and West <http://bit.ly/deT894> , with ties to big energy and offices across the country, has been hired to push the Salazar Plan <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/190-managing-wild-equids-on-public-lands-a-response-to-the-doi-plan> for Wild Horses and Burros through Congress in Fall 2010—despite public outrage. Kearns and West has expertise in crisis management as well as accomplishing policy and regulatory goals. Their clients range from Mineral Management Services (MMS) and PG&E to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Department of Interior (DOI) has enlisted the firm using the Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) as the go between. Senior mediator of Kearns and West, J. Michael Harty will facilitate an unprecedented public workshop in Denver, Colorado at the Magnolia Hotel, 818 17th Street, on June 14th followed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Public Advisory Board Meeting on June 15th. Both days will be live-streamed and viewing available on www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> . The public and members of Congress are encouraged to watch. The public will protest on June 15th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. with a press conference at noon.

BLM’s recently announced and highly polished but unsubstantial, “Strategy Plan” <http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2010/june/NR_06_03_2010.html> as well as their association with PR firm Kearns and West, appears designed to manipulate the public and marginalize the opposition to the Salazar Plan <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/301-public-opposes-salazars-request-for-millions-to-move-mustangs-east-3110> for wild horses and burros. The plan calls for the purchase of Eastern and Midwestern “preserves” populated by sterilized wild horses, captured from their Western ranges.

"This is ALL about manipulating public opinion. And ramming ONE thing – Salazar’s Plan – through” states author R.T. Fitch <http://rtfitch.wordpress.com/> .

The Kearns and West Salazar Plan Executive Summary <http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/Communications_Directorate/public_affairs/news_release_attachments.Par.95141.File.dat/KW_Final_Plan_5-10-10%20Executive%20Summary.pdf> states, ‘The U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (‘Institute’) is assisting BLM in assessing stakeholder interests and developing an effective stakeholder engagement plan for the Strategy.’ Disturbingly, BLM often does not include the public as a stakeholder in their planning documents regarding the management of wild horses and burros.

“Who is the biggest stakeholder in the discussion of the public’s land and its wild horses if not the public?” asks Terri Farley <http://www.terrifarley.com/> , author of the Phantom Stallion series, adding “A public agency must represent the public and utilize taxpayer dollars responsibly—not spend excessively on another private contractor.”

According to their website <http://www.kearnswest.com/> , Kearns and West offers their clients (in this case the BLM) ‘A compelling credible, resonant case. True, high-impact support for your position.’ Advocates support a new direction that abandons the endless, expensive cycle of roundup, removal, and warehousing. BLM must adopt a far less expensive path that is kinder to the land and the wild horses legally living there, one that contains truly transparent solutions, not a slick, taxpayer-funded PR campaign.

“By hiring a high powered PR and Public Affairs firm, it seems that BLM is aiming to extinguish the opposition rather than solve the controversy over their management of our wild herds,” explains Ginger Kathrens <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors> , Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “The public by the thousands has shared their opposition to the Salazar Plan <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/301-public-opposes-salazars-request-for-millions-to-move-mustangs-east-3110> . I hope we can sit down at this public forum and seriously talk about a moratorium on roundups while we work to reinstate protections that are consistent with the intent of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act. <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/news/resources/216-whbact> ”

According to The Holmes Report <http://www.holmesreport.com/details.cfm?agencyid=289> , “Kearns & West recognizes the important value of collaborating both with our clients and their stakeholders. For more than 20 years, the firm has employed its unique brand of stakeholder-centric strategic communications and collaboration processes to design innovative, but pragmatic programs, achieving superior results for clients in the federal, state and local government, private and nonprofit sectors. Kearns & West works with tough issues and big ideas.”

Besides specializing in ‘accomplishing policy and regulatory goals’ Kearns and West also represents PG&E—a primary customer in the Ruby Pipeline <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/258-ruby1> natural gas project threatening public lands and five public herds with environmental devastation from Wyoming to Oregon. Kearns and West also represents Duke Energy, the Association of Western Governors and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, among others.

While Secretary Salazar vowed to restore the Interior Department's ‘respect for scientific integrity’ he has failed to consider science, reason, or even the law when it comes to managing our wild herds. Kearns and West has been known to gather scientific experts and build a movement of common interest “stakeholders” to crush public outcry and true environmentalism. Wild horse advocates feel the Kearns and West prepared Salazar report for Congress will be biased in favor of big energy ties with DOI at the expense of federally protected wild horses who somehow are in the way of ‘The New Energy Frontier’.

“We hope Monday’s workshop will be a productive one rather than a demonstration of BLM’s inability to change,” concludes Kathrens.

# # #

Links of interest:

Interior Department Wild Horse Public Workshop, Livestream June 14, 8 a.m. -4 p.m. and Advisory Board Meeting June 15, 8 a.m. -5:00 p.m. http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>

Kearns and West http://bit.ly/deT894

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

Rolling Stone: The Spill, The Scandal and the President. June 2010 http://bit.ly/d3Bjcm

Vanity Fair: A Solution to America’s Wild Horse Crisis? June 2010 http://bit.ly/a7Esyd <http://bit.ly/a7Esyd>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Special http://bit.ly/stampede2ext <http://bit.ly/stampede2ext>

Ken Salazar's "candy shop": Denver Post Guest Commentary, June 2010 http://bit.ly/aNbLz9 <http://bit.ly/aNbLz9>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/a0xcq7 <http://bit.ly/a0xcq7>

Informative Blog: American Herds http://americanherds.blogspot.com/ <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation ~ makendra@thecloudfoundation.org

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contact:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Media and Public Advisory:

Public Encouraged to Attend Meeting on BLM Plans to Round up Hundreds of Utah’s Wild Mustangs

Taxpayers continue to foot the bill for wild horse removals, welfare cattle and extractive industry

Wild Baby by Laura Leigh
Salt Lake City, UT (June 8, 2010)—On June 9, 2010 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold a public meeting <http://bit.ly/UtahRoundupMtg> in Salt Lake City, Utah to discuss the use of helicopters and motorized vehicles during massive wild horse roundups scheduled to begin throughout the state in August. Advocates are encouraged to attend this meeting at the West Desert District office at 6:30 p.m., 2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City, Utah.

This meeting will impact pending roundups of Utah wild horse herds including those in the Winter Ridge area of NE Utah (slated for complete removal this summer) and the Confusion and Conger (where a planned spring roundup was successfully delayed) as well as the famous Sulphur herd, all of Western Utah, among others. Additional herds in danger of removal include North Hills (Iron and Washington Counties), and Chokecherry and Mt. Elinor (Beaver and Iron Counties).

“Surface natural gas lines crisscross much of these areas, particularly Winter Ridge and Hill Creek,” said Herd-Watch Project Manager Laura Leigh, who visited the area recently, noting steep drop-offs and canyons, which could be deadly in a helicopter roundup. “Yesterday in Texas we had a buried line apparently hit by a piece of equipment and three people are presumed dead. The lines in Winter Ridge lay on the surface. Not just one line, but many, that in places are hidden from immediate view by vegetation. A roundup in this area could be devastating.”

Winter Ridge by Laura Leigh
The Winter Ridge and Hill Creek Herd Areas are slated for removal of 450 horses beginning July 18, 2010 and concluding July 31 despite thousands of public comments urging BLM to cancel the roundups in the West before all the horses are gone. Nearly 12,000 wild free-roaming mustangs and burros are to be permanently removed at a cost of over $30 million in 2010 alone.

The interested public is asked to attend the meeting and raise concerns about the natural gas lines and the current protocol utilized for roundups in Utah, characteristic of those across the West.

“The majority of Utah’s iconic mustangs will be warehoused for life at an enormous expense to the American taxpayer,” states filmmaker and director of the Cloud Foundation, Ginger Kathrens. “At the same time, taxpayers will continue to shell out their tax dollars for the thousands of head of cattle that will remain on Utah’s legally designated wild horse ranges. In addition we have an expanding extraction industry on our public lands. When does management for multiple use cross the line into management that has nothing to do with wild horses?”

Information on attending the meeting is posted online at http://bit.ly/UtahRoundupMtg
For more information and photographs contact:

###

Links of interest:

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/a0xcq7 <http://bit.ly/a0xcq7>

Dead foal triggers passion about mustang roundup in Nevada: Reno Gazette Journal http://bit.ly/aQdLv2 <http://bit.ly/aQdLv2>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Special http://bit.ly/stampede2ext <http://bit.ly/stampede2ext>

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>

Informative Wild Horse Blog American Herds http://americanherds.blogspot.com/ <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

For Further Information Regarding Herd-Watch please contact:
Laura Leigh, Project Manager
CalicoHorses@gmail.com

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
makendra@thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842
www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contact:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Ginger Kathrens Speaks in Sacramento for Wild Horses; Calls to Stop Massive California Roundup

Filmmaker Hailed as the Jane Goodall for the American Wild Mustang

Sacramento, CA (June 7, 2010)—Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and Director of The Cloud Foundation, Ginger Kathrens, is working hard to save wild horses in their native Western states, including California. She will speak at the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento June 11-13th.

“Ginger Kathrens is the Jane Goodall for the American wild mustang. She is a naturalist, witness, advocate, educator and filmmaker,” says Sheryl Crow, GRAMMY® award-winning singer/songwriter.

Kathrens will share her adventures with wild horses and speak about the current International movement to save the American mustangs, backed by celebrities such as Sheryl Crow, Michael Blake and Viggo Mortensen. Kathrens has studied and filmed the mustangs in their natural environment for more than 16 years—creating the popular Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies programs for PBS’s Nature series shown in the U.S.A and abroad. Her documentaries represent the only known long-term documentation, in our hemisphere, of a wild animal from birth.

Audience members will learn why it's important to stop the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) proposed roundup and removal of 1800 wild California mustangs and 200 wild California burros. The roundup, if allowed to proceed this summer, will remove the last stronghold of wild horses in California currently living in the Twin Peaks herd area near Susanville in Northern California.

Kathrens will speak at the Horse Expo’s Trail Symposium pavilion on June 11 from 10:00-10:30 a.m., June 12 from 4:00- 4:30 p.m. and June 13 from 3:00- 3:30 p.m. For more information on the Horse Expo visit www.horsexpo.com <http://www.horsexpo.com/> .

A fundraiser for The Cloud Foundation kicks off Kathrens' appearances at the Expo. She will speak and show film clips at The Brickhouse Art Gallery, 2837 36th street in Sacramento on June 9, at 6:00 p.m., $30 donation, wine, hors d'oeuvres and silent auction. For more information or to RSVP to the fundraiser visit www.TheCoudFoundation.org <http://www.TheCoudFoundation.org/>

###

Links of interest:

Dead foal triggers passion about mustang roundup in Nevada: Reno Gazette Journal http://bit.ly/aQdLv2 <http://bit.ly/aQdLv2>

Western States Horse Expo http://www.horsexpo.com/ <http://www.horsexpo.com/>

June 9th Presentation/Fundraiser http://bit.ly/c0yGpA <http://bit.ly/c0yGpA>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Special http://bit.ly/stampede2ext <http://bit.ly/stampede2ext>

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/a0xcq7 <http://bit.ly/a0xcq7>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

Fact Sheet on Wild Herds & The Salazar Plan http://bit.ly/bfdX1y <http://bit.ly/bfdX1y>

Informative Wild Horse Blog American Herds http://americanherds.blogspot.com/ <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

‘Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses’ http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58>

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
makendra@thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842
www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Americans Call for Urgent Reform in Department of Interior’s Wild Horse and Burro Program

The Gulf and Western Public Lands suffer under Salazar and Baca's Leadership

Washington, D.C. (May 28, 2010)— Currently being questioned by the House Committee on Natural Resources <http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=630&Itemid=27> regarding the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar has come under fire for his lack of oversight on offshore drilling. Wild horse advocates contend that the mismanagement extends not just to an unparalled ecological disaster at sea, but a humane, environmental and fiscal disaster on our public lands. Wild horses and burros are being rounded up off their legally designated homes on Western ranges while extractive industries are allowed to monopolize public lands at enormous expense to the American taxpayer and the environment.

The impact of extractive uses on public lands is perhaps best described by project coordinator, Lars Ecklund, of the proposed Ruby natural gas pipeline <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/258-ruby1> which would impact wild horses and wild public lands in its 600-mile path. As quoted by the Klamath Falls Herald and News on April 16, 2010, Ecklund said “Once we get that [FERC approval <http://www.interior.gov/news/09_News_Releases/031709.html> ], all hell will break loose… don’t think we’re going to put this pipe in without making a mess … It’s going to look like Hiroshima. It’s going to look nasty.” Salazar, who signed an agreement <http://www.interior.gov/news/09_News_Releases/031709.html> with the FERC Chairman on March 17, 2009 to facilitate offshore drilling, has been unresponsive to public calls to stop the Ruby project.

Secretary Salazar is no friend of wild horses. He stated that “they don’t belong on public lands” while running for the U.S. Senate in Colorado in 2004. Under his leadership at DOI, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has retained the same entrenched bureaucrats who continue to run the Wild Horse and Burro program into the ground. Salazar has continued the Bush-era policy of massive wild horse removals off public land leading to the demise of America’s wild herds—burdening the taxpayer with a bill of $3.5 million per month for the 37,000 now incarcerated wild horses. Since Salazar’s appointment, over one dozen herds have been zeroed out with at least another five on the chopping block for fiscal year 2011.

“Destruction and death of the animals the American public cherishes have been Salazar’s hallmark/brand as Interior Secretary,” states Katie Fite, biodiversity specialist for Western Watersheds <http://www.westernwatersheds.org/> . “He failed to protect wolves and sage grouse, and oversaw the brutal Calico wild horse roundup and many others. He’s hell-bent on selling out the public lands to ranchers and big energy scoundrels—in whose corporate interest it is that there are no wolves, no grouse, and no wild horses left.”

In June of 2009, Salazar hired Sylvia Baca <http://www.doi.gov/archive/bio/baca_bio.html> away from BP America to become his Deputy Assistant Secretary of Lands and Minerals Management. This is not Baca’s first stint at Interior. From 1995 to 2001 she was the Assistant Secretary for Lands and Mineral management and also served as the Acting Director of the BLM. During her tenure as Acting Director allegations of wild horses being sent to slaughter were revealed in a series of shocking articles by AP reporter, Martha Mendoza <http://bit.ly/ccTn8K> . Her meticulously researched articles revealed BLM contractors and employees working together to traffic wild horses to slaughterhouses. In a PEER <http://www.peer.org/> (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) White Paper <http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/is-the-blm-leading-wild-horses-to-slaughter/Content?oid=1133544> released in 1997 on this topic, PEER reported that “On February 19, 1997, the BLM issued a press release announcing the results of an internal investigation ‘which contradicts recent press allegations that wild horses are routinely sent to slaughter.’ Despite this self-proclaimed clean bill of health the BLM simultaneously announced a series of 20 reforms in the Wild Horse and Burro Program and promised more reforms to come.” Despite the promised ‘reforms’, some of the same employees implicated in this investigation are working at the BLM today, at least one in a position of authority.

In 2001, Baca left the Interior Department to take a job as a senior manager at BP America—the same BP of the Gulf disaster. Ironically, while at BP, one of her responsibilities was to develop health, safety, and emergency response programs. Then in June 2009 the offer came from Salazar for her to return to DOI, this time with a promotion.

Six months after beginning her second stint at DOI, Baca attended the December 2009 BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Reno <http://www.nvhorsepower.org/wild_and_free.html> , representing the “Salazar Plan <http://bit.ly/74789s> ” to the Board. The Plan would move 26,000 wild horses from the West to preserves in the East and Midwest, on private land purchased with taxpayer dollars. “The Plan requires hundreds of millions of dollars for land acquisitions. It's being sold as an eco-tourism opportunity. People are thrilled of the sight of mustangs running free, by battling stallions and long-legged foals," states Terri Farley who attended the meeting. “But this Plan takes our wild horses off public lands, castrates all stallions and sends segregated, non-reproducing animals to pastures back East. It's expensive, unnecessary and cruel. And for what? Most tax-payers would choose the once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing mustangs in the wild, over funding more grazing cows and more oil and gas installations pounding away."

During a break in the meeting in Reno, Cloud Foundation Director Ginger Kathrens <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors> , used the opportunity to say hello to Secretary Baca and show her pictures of the Calico horses of northwestern Nevada. The horses were slated for a dead of winter removal because, BLM contended, they might starve if left on their half-million acre home range. “Craig Downer had taken wonderful pictures of the wild horses and then enlarged them for the Board to see,” said Kathrens. “When I showed her the pictures and called her attention to the health and beauty of the horses, she stated it didn’t look like they had anything to eat and walked away.”

Then in April 2010, the Cloud Foundation scheduled a meeting with BLM Director Bob Abbey in an attempt to find solutions to the management difficulties within the Wild Horse and Burro Program and to work collaboratively with the BLM. Deputy Secretary Baca attended that meeting “and we were met with open hostility from her,” states Kathrens. “At one point she indicated we should thank them (the BLM) for not euthanizing the wild horses held in holding corrals, intimating that they had the legal authority to do so.”

“Sylvia Baca is just doing Secretary Salazar’s bidding as far as I’m concerned and they are both bad for the wild horses and the environment,” states American Herds blog writer Cindy MacDonald. “ Look what’s happening in the Gulf. Interior is dangerously unresponsive and ineffective under Salazar’s leadership. He was picked to clean up the reported corruption within the agency and instead, it is the same old faces making the same bad decisions.”

Some media pundits have concluded that Salazar has only months to go before being replaced as Secretary of the Interior. “It can’t come too soon for our wild lands, the horses or the environment,” MacDonald concludes.

The Cloud Foundation continues to ask for DOI’s assurance that the elimination of wild horse and burro herds across the West is not motivated by extractive industries. This is difficult to believe because tens of thousands of privately-owned livestock are grazing on herd management areas across the West and oil and gas exploration is rampant in some herd areas.

The Cloud Foundation asks the public to contact President Obama and call for the immediate resignation of both Salazar and Baca. Both need to be replaced with a true stewards of our public lands like the recently deceased Stuart Udall <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032003261.html> , who established the first public wild horse and burro range in Cloud’s Pryor Mountains and understood the value of protecting and preserving public lands for multiple-use rather than greed-based destruction.

A conservation organization, WildEarth Guardians, is currently circulating a letter <http://views.washingtonpost.com/climate-change/post-carbon/2010/05/greens_call_for_salazars_resignation.html> demanding that Secretary Salazar resign for his poor decision-making and mismanagement of wildlife and watersheds, air, land and water, to which the Cloud Foundation is one of the signatories. “The country needs an Interior Secretary that will do more than wear a cowboy hat and talk tough in front of cameras,” said Dr. Nicole Rosmarino, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians <http://www.wildearthguardians.org/> , “Salazar promised to be the new sheriff in town but his form of policing seems to be to look the other way.”

###

Links of interest:

Greens call for Salazar's resignation, Washington Post http://bit.ly/9NQeao

Public Opposes the Salazar Plan press release http://bit.ly/SalazarPlanOpposed <http://bit.ly/SalazarPlanOpposed>

Interior and FERC Announce Agreement on Offshore Renewable Energy Development: http://www.interior.gov/news/09_News_Releases/031709.html

Deputy Assistant Director Sylvia V. Baca http://www.doi.gov/archive/bio/baca_bio.html

Ruby Pipeline press release http://bit.ly/74789s

Wild Earth Guardians http://www.wildearthguardians.org/

Western Watersheds Project http://www.westernwatersheds.org/ <http://www.westernwatersheds.org/>

PEER http://www.peer.org/ <http://www.peer.org/>

American Herds - http://americanherds.blogspot.com <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV <http://bit.ly/9rGFwV>

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/74789s <http://bit.ly/74789s>

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/ <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

Fact Sheet on Wild Horses and Burros http://bit.ly/74789s

Why Salazar’s Plan Falls Short fact sheet http://bit.ly/74789s <http://bit.ly/74789s>

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
makendra@thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Push to Save America’s Wild Horses Continues after Judge Dismisses Case on Technicality

Public’s stake in future of wild horse herds only grows

Washington, D.C. (May 25, 2010)— Solely on the basis of standing and mootness the lawsuit brought against the Department of Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) by In Defense of Animals (IDA), wildlife ecologist and Cloud Foundation Board Member Craig Downer and author Terri Farley was dismissed by the Honorable Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. on May 24^th. The Cloud Foundation continues to call for the return to the wild of the beleaguered Calico horses now in holding pens. To date at least 90 horses have died, 40 or more mares had spontaneous late term abortions due to stress and an unknown number of young foals have died in the privately-owned feedlot-style pens in Fallon, Nevada where the majority of the captured horses are held without windbreaks, shade or cover.

“The case remains that these horses need to be turned back out onto their designated range. After the suffering they continue to endure they deserve no less,” states Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation. “We’re asking the public to write the President. It is time for an executive order to be handed down to place an immediate moratorium on roundups. The public is speaking clearly---they want their wild horses protected on our public lands and this ruling does nothing to change this unified appeal.”

The Cloud Foundation thanks the law firm of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney, who worked pro-bono to stop what became a deadly winter roundup in which nearly 2000 horses lost their freedom. Judge Friedman’s decision did not address the merits of the argument, only the plaintiffs’ lack of standing. Additionally, Judge Friedman ruled that the arguments against the roundup methods were moot as the roundup/removal operation had already taken place.

“I'm heartsick that Judge Friedman didn’t rule in favor of the Calico horses, but it's important to note that he dismissed the case on a technicality, not on the merits of the case” explains co-plaintiff Terri Farley, author of the children’s Phantom Stallion Series. “This lawsuit shone the light of public scrutiny on BLM's abuse of the mustang. Those of us who had our eyes opened will never look away.”

###

Links of interest:

Press Release from In Defense of Animals, May 24th: http://bit.ly/74789s

Case decision https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2009cv2222-55

Law Firm of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney http://www.bipc.com/home.php

In Defense of Animals http://www.idausa.org/

BLM Daily Fallon Reports http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html

Humane Observer Reports from Fallon http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25^th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE

Herd-Watch http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/74789s

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign: Report on the Calico Roundup http://bit.ly/9R8bgM

Dr. Bruce Nock Report “Wild Horses: Stress of Captivity” http://bit.ly/9R8bgM

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV

Americans Want to Stop the Roundups in Der Spiegle http://bit.ly/cqZvKr

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation news@thecloudfoundation.org

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Emaciated Wild Horse Colt Latest Victim Under BLM Care
Humane Observers Need Daily Access to Monitor Horses’ Well-Being

Fallon, NV (May 21, 2010)—On Sunday, May 16th, visitors and humane observers to the government holding pens <http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html> in Fallon, Nevada found injured wild horses and photographed a starving, emaciated colt <%22http:/> among the 2,100 mustangs. The young colt had clearly been struggling for multiple days and was not placed in a hospital pen with his mother. Advocates alerted Bureau of Land Management (BLM) staff to the colt’s poor condition. After the facility closed the only veterinarian, responsible for the care of over 3,000 horses at two BLM facilities, was called in and euthanized the colt. The Washoe County Sheriff is currently investigating multiple incidences of animal abuse at the Fallon Facility.

“We have been saying for months that one veterinarian is not adequate to monitor thousands of wild horses and now more than 300 foals,” states Ginger Kathrens <%22http://www.thecloudfounda> , Director of the Cloud Foundation <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> . “If volunteers were allowed on a regular basis to view these horses the death of this little colt might have been prevented.”

Foals are not counted in BLM records and the deaths are not listed in the BLM daily reports <http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html> . The emaciated colt’s death is in addition to at least 90 fatalities to date as a result of wintertime Calico roundup in Northwestern Nevada.

The BLM allows only ten people to visit Fallon one time per week, on Sunday, for a couple of hours despite repeated requests for increased access. Tours are currently postponed and may be cancelled permanently despite a clear need to observe recently castrated males <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/2010/05/castration-blues-just-deal-with-it-and.html> , pregnant mares and young foals.

“These horses were taken off the range because BLM claimed they were at risk of dehydration and starvation, the reasons given for destroying this captive foal. These deaths are avoidable. Northern Nevada's precipitation is 128% of normal,” explains Terri Farley <http://www.terrifarley.com/> , author of the famed Phantom Stallion <http://www.phantomstallion.com/> Series. “Born in the wild, instead of suffering in a fenced sand box, the foal might have lived.”

###

Links of interest:

BLM Daily Fallon Reports http://bit.ly/dailyfallon <http://bit.ly/dailyfallon>

Humane Observer Reports from Fallon http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell, March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Herd-Watch http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://%22/>

Roundup Schedule- updated May 2010 http://bit.ly/74789s <http://bit.ly/74789s>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV <http://bit.ly/9rGFwV>

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html <%22x-msg://314/%22http://ame>

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/ <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

Photos, video and interviews available from: The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905 - 719-633-3842 www.thecloudfoundation.org

<http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Vivian Grant
vivian@horsefund.org
(713) 893 7813

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

International Fund for Horses and The Cloud Foundation launch Mother's Day effort on behalf of captured Mustang mares

Stop the roundups and respect our wild mothers

WASHINGTON D.C. (May 4, 2010) ―The American wild horse crisis is filled with issues of animal cruelty and the world looks on and asks, "Why?". Currently the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is holding over 1800 captured Calico mustangs at a privately owned, feedlot-style facility in Fallon, Nevada. The manure-strewn pens have become a makeshift nursery for captured mares now giving birth without cover or protection from the elements. In honor of America’s wild horse mares and their foals, International Fund for Horses and The Cloud Foundation launch a letter writing campaign First Lady Michelle Obama this Mother’s Day, requesting a moratorium on roundups in the American West.

“The American public is no longer buying the false claims by the BLM that wild horses are starving and must be removed from the range,” states Vivian Grant, President of the Int'l Fund for Horses. “Time after time we see healthy wild horses being rounded up by the BLM and tragically it is the mares and their newborn or unborn foals who pay the highest price.” More than 40 late term abortions and 87 adult horse deaths have occurred as a result of the stressful helicopter roundup in northwestern Nevada in the dead of winter.

While the Calico mustang mothers and their newborns continue to be held in the dusty corrals, their sons are being castrated without proper pain medication or medical oversight. Complications that often arise with domestic horses such as hemorrhage, evisceration (protrusion on the intestine through the scrotum), inflammation, swelling in the cavity and lasting damage to the penis go untreated. "Prompt recognition of post-castration complications and expedited application of appropriate treatment is essential in all cases" according to Liberty M. Getman, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, from the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center. Dr. Getman went on to explain that "approximately one-third of all castrations develop some form of post-surgical complication, and these complications constitute the number one reason of malpractice claims against North American veterinarians." The 1800-plus mustangs in Fallon are under the watch of only one veterinarian and castrated males, in obvious pain with swollen scrotums, receive no pain medication or post-surgical care. Humane observers are denied access except for a two hour staged public tour once a week.

Celebrities such as Sheryl Crow and Viggo Mortensen as well as scientists and more than 160 international organizations, have signed a unified moratorium letter calling for a freeze of BLM roundups until a truly sustainable plan is in effect. Currently BLM spends roughly half their $64 million budget rounding up mustangs and the remainder feeding captured mustangs in government holding millions. This poor management policy is leading to the destruction of the last of our western wild herds.

The two foundations ask the First Lady for help to end the cruelty, stop the wild horse round ups, and call for an investigation of the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro program. “Tell our First Lady how you really feel about what is happening to our wild horses and burros,” urges Ginger Kathrens, Cloud filmmaker and Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation. “The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program is a fiscal train wreck for the American taxpayers and an on-going nightmare for the Calico horses. Adding more wild horses and burros into holding facilities while the ranges are emptied of the last of our iconic mustangs makes absolutely no sense.“

Now the public of all ages is invited to write to: First Lady Michelle Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500, fax her at (202) 456-2461, call her office at (202) 456-1414 or email her online at www.emailthepresident.com/first-lady <http://www.emailthepresident.com/first-lady.html>

“What do we need to do to get a response from this Administration? Put holding pens on the White House lawn?” asks Hilary Wood, President and Founder of Front Range Equine Rescue in Larkspur, Colorado. In the meantime, the BLM is revving up the helicopters for the next invasion of wild horses and burro ranges slated to begin in June. “We’d like to keep mothers and their foals living free, in the wild, as Congress intended in the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act,” adds Wood.

# # #

Links of interest:

Fallon Facility Daily Reports http://bit.ly/aSaeVc

Photos of Fallon mares, foals and castrated males http://bit.ly/aE1hg9

Herd-Watch http://bit.ly/9Wvh58

Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010 http://bit.ly/bOhwdk <http://bit.ly/bOhwdk>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV <%22http://bi>

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html <x-msg://171/%22http://americanherds.blog>

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/ <%22http://www.wildhorse>

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm <http://bit.ly/awFbwm>

The Int'l Fund for Horses is the most influential equine advocacy organization of its kind. Headquartered in the United States, the Int'l Fund for Horses works for the passage and enforcement of horse protection laws and act as industry watchdogs intervening on behalf of horses in health, safety and welfare matters. Learn more at www.fund4horses.org <http://%22htt/> or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fund4horses <http://www.twitter.com/fund4horses> .

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
Learn more at www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> . Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Photos, video and interviews available from The Cloud Foundation
makendra@thecloudfoundation.org ~ 719-633-3842

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

The Cloud Foundation Takes Action with Herd-Watch: Public Eyes for Public Horses
47% of wild horse and burro herds have been zeroed out by BLM since 1971

Colorado Springs, CO (April 29, 2010)—Today the Cloud Foundation launches Herd-Watch <http://bit.ly/9Wvh58> , an innovative volunteer program to monitor wild horse and burro herds as well as roundups across the West. The iconic horses and burros are currently being managed to virtual extinction, contrary to the. From this day on, Herd-Watch will: watchdog America’s wild horses and burros, provide increased public visibility, monitor the range conditions and the mustang, burro and livestock numbers as well as keep tabs on the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) plans for “management” of each treasured American Herd.

“The more the public knows about our wild herds, the more deeply they will care about their preservation. Through Herd-Watch we will educate and inform the public while protecting an American treasure,” explains Project Manager Laura Leigh of Nevada. “Herd-Watch is an exciting and interactive new development facilitating improved protections for our wild herds and, we hope, an improved dialogue with both the BLM and Forest Service.”

A central database will keep tabs on each of America’s remaining 180 herds on public lands in ten Western States and their ranges. According to BLM, in 1971 339 wild herds were designated for protection. Since then the BLM and Forest Service have zeroed out 159 herds, including 12 in Nevada just last year. Volunteer teams will log and catalog data, photos and information following their visits to the range. The Cloud Foundation hopes that BLM and Forest Service officials will welcome the increased interest and monitoring of wild herds at no cost to taxpayers.

Interested members of the public are encouraged to visit www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/news/wild-horse-issues/342-herdwatch> to volunteer, donate and learn more.

“Herd-Watch will remove our wild herds from the ranks of the anonymous. Through the work of dedicated volunteers, the public will learn about each amazing herd of wild horses and burros and what can be done to preserve them for all time, as the Wild Horse and Burro Act intended,” states Ginger Kathrens, Cloud Foundation Executive Director and Emmy award-winning producer whose Cloud documentaries have educated a world public about the rich lives of wild horses.
1971 Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act <http://bit.ly/a7hOeS>

###

Links of interest:

Herd-Watch http://bit.ly/9Wvh58 <http://%22>

Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010 http://bit.ly/bOhwdk

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV <http://bit.ly/9rGFwV>

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html <%22http://americanherds.blog>

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/

Disappointment Valley... A Modern Day Western Trailer- excellent sample of interviews regarding the issues http://bit.ly/awFbwm

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org
719-633-3842 ~ www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Public Alarmed at BLM’s Surprise Start to Castrate Mustangs as Death Toll Rises in Nevada Facility

New report on equine stress released as Foundation denied access to view the captured Calico wild horses in Nevada

Reno, NV (April 23, 2010)—Unexpected castrating of captured male mustangs, four years old and younger, by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) started behind closed doors on Friday, April 16th in the Fallon holding pens

<http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html> of Nevada. Many depressed horses with swollen scrotums <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/component/content/article/333> have been observed. The public understood that the castration of the Calico wild horses would not occur until the In Defense of Animals court case <http://dockets.justia.com/docket/court-dcdce/case_no-1:2009cv02222/case_id-139628/Calico%20roundup%20BLM%20Documents> was heard in May as there is a possibility of returning the wild horses to their protected public rangelands. For months, requests for daily monitoring by humane observers have been repetitively denied at the new private facility contracted by the BLM. Now a request to visit the feedlot-style facility by Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker, Ginger Kathrens <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors> , has been denied as well. Outraged members of the public will hold protests in multiple cities because of the BLM’s lack of transparency and cruel roundups. The first rally is planned for Sunday, April 25th near Las Vegas at Red Rocks Park <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/events/details/68-las-vegas-rally> from 12:00- 2:00 p.m.

“BLM seems determined to create a missing generation of mustangs” states Terri Farley <http://www.terrifarley.com/> , an award-winning children’s author and a plaintiff in the Calico case. “In their care, 86 horses have died, more than 40 mares have aborted their late term foals and now they've castrated an undisclosed number of young stallions."

On April 19th Ginger Kathrens, was denied access to visit the private wild horse holding facility <http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_programs/wild_horses_and_burros/calico_mountains_complex/gather_activity_updates.html> in Fallon, Nevada. BLM holds fast to its policy of restricting viewing to Sundays for a few hours— a time when the horses are not being handled by the BLM. An email to Kathrens from BLM Deputy Division Chief of the Wild Horse and Burro Program, Dean Bolstad, he stated in part “The facility (Fallon) is not staffed adequately to host visitation on a daily basis or upon demand. Each time we conduct a tour, staff have to travel from Reno or Palomino Valley.”

Kathrens responded that, “Since visitation is denied except for a brief two hours on Sundays, it causes your ‘management’ practices to appear less transparent. Consequently, this restriction/limitation ends-up being counter productive to your educational and public relations efforts. I hope that this practice will change in the near future so people such as myself can fully view the facility and the horses -- and feel like we're invited and informed partners in the care of our national wild horse treasures.”

According to a newly released report by Bruce Nock, PhD entitled “Wild Horses, The Stress of Captivity <http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/new-awhpc-release-and-vet-report/> ” the deaths and abortions can be attributed in part to the sheer stress of the roundup. This report was released in conjunction with “BLM Calico Complex Roundup: A Case Study of a Broken System for Horses and Taxpayers <http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/new-awhpc-release-and-vet-report/> ” a report by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/> ).

Dr. Bruce Nock, Associate Professor at the Washington University School of Medicine and expert on the physiological effects of stress on animals, wrote: “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say, as gathers [roundups] are routinely done in the USA, if a wild horse doesn’t die straight off from the immediate devastation and commotion, it compromises him/her physically and mentally, putting him on a path of accelerated deterioration.”

Even during the limited once a week visits, members of the public have observed the horses being fed moldy hay, which can cause serious illness and death to horses of all ages. The feeding of the moldy hay was noted and photographed <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/component/content/article/334> on the automatic feeding trucks most recently on Sunday, April 18. Other photographs underscore the lack of cover for the horses, the extreme dust during frequent windy periods, and the presence of sand and even small rocks in the hay being fed to the once wild and free roaming Calico horses. A serious illness known as sand colic <http://www.equine-originals.com/sandcolic.htm> results from ingesting sand and has been known to be fatal in many cases.

“The reports we get from citizens able to get in to see and document the captive wild horses during the once a week staged tours are awful. This shameful taxpayer funded nightmare behind closed doors must stop!” states Kathrens.

The Calico Mountain Complex wild horse roundup has drawn intense public attention worldwide. BLM went forward despite historic public opposition and a recommendation from US District Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman <http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ> to postpone the roundup. Despite the increased scrutiny, the roundup has been a disaster for the nearly 2000 federally protected mustangs. In late December government contracted helicopters took to the air, rounding up every horse they could find on the vast 500,000 acre Calico range—an area designated principally for wild horse use since 1971 but grazed by thousands of privately-owned, government-subsidized cattle. The roundup and short-term holding of the Calico mustangs has cost at least $1.3 million to American taxpayers while causing injury and death to hundreds of wild horses.

The 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act placed the authority for managing wild horses and burros primarily in the hands of the BLM. 54,000 wild horses and burros comprised 303 herds throughout the West when BLM conducted the first population census in 1974. Since that time, over 100 herds have been completely eliminated and the current range population is believed to be less than half what it was in 1974. This roundup and removal policy is fast leading to the extinction of wild horses and burros in the West.

"At the same time the BLM strips federal land of wild horses and burros it is supposed to be protecting, it props up a public lands grazing program that costs American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year” states Rob Pliskin, a BLM volunteer and wild horse supporter.

36,000 wild horses are currently in holding facilities instead of roaming in the lands designated for their use. Over 24 million acres have been withdrawn from wild horse and burro use. The BLM “welfare ranching” practices continue—allowing the land to be leased primarily to corporations at minimum fees of $1.35 per cow/calf pair or per five head of sheep per month along with land leases to extractive and energy industries on Western public lands.

Links of interest:

In Defense of Animals, et al v. Salazar case http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ <http://%22>

Las Vegas Rally, April 25th http://bit.ly/dhockW <http://%22>

Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act of 1971 http://bit.ly/a7hOeS <http://bit.ly/a7hOeS>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV <http://bit.ly/9rGFwV>

CNN Report on Nevada Roundup with Jane Valez-Mitchell http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Americans Want to Stop the Roundups in Der Spiegle http://bit.ly/cqZvKr <http://bit.ly/cqZvKr>

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc <http://bit.ly/aSaeVc>

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html>

American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

Photos of moldy hay: http://bit.ly/9PLM9t

Photos of horse post-castration: http://bit.ly/9SylSI

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his Administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press) http://bit.ly/6UQleO <http://bit.ly/6UQleO>

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L <http://bit.ly/6ck87L>

Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010 http://bit.ly/bOhwdk

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842 ~ www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Accused to Stand Trial for Wild Horse Shootings in Nevada

Wild Horse Advocates will bear witness at court.

Reno, NV (April 21, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation and other wild horse advocates are coming to Reno on April 27, 2010 at 3 p.m. to witness Todd Davis and Joshua Keathly make their first court appearance for allegedly harassing and killing five federally protected American wild mustangs—shot on or about November 28, 2009 in Washoe county, Nevada. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. McQuaid, Jr. will preside in Federal District Court, 400 S. Virginia Street, Reno.

Wild horse advocates find it unsettling to learn that Davis & Keathley are only charged with one count of causing the death of five wild horses for each man. Advocates are calling for charges of five counts, one for each horse as is standard with murder cases. If convicted of one count, each man will face a maximum of one year in prison and a maximum $100,000 fine.

“If convicted, the maximum penalties need to be applied to send a clear message—you kill America’s federally protected mustangs and you will pay the price,” states Emmy-Award winning filmmaker and Director of The Cloud Foundation, Ginger Kathrens.

The public is encouraged to attend the trial on behalf of the murdered horses. The Cloud Foundation joins the public in calling for increased charges in the violent deaths of five American mustangs on public land who are protected by the Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971.

# # #

Links of interest:

US Department of Justice Press Release http://bit.ly/a6yTjh <http://%22/>

Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act of 1971 http://bit.ly/a7hOeS <http://%22/>

Wild Horses: Management or Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Sunday Special by Frank X. Mullen. http://bit.ly/9rGFwV

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Captured Nevada Mustangs Suffer Pigeon Fever and Degrading Conditions under BLM’s Veil of Secrecy

Newborn horses unaccounted for as BLM denies public observation of Calico wild horses and keeps up closed-door, business-as-usual protocol

Fallon, NV (April 1, 2010)—The public questions the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) ability to care for the more than 1800 captured wild horses in Nevada noting a Pigeon Fever outbreak as well as a growing number of newborn horses not accounted for. It appears that only one licensed veterinarian is caring for thousands of horses in both the Palomino and Fallon feedlot style holding facilities. The BLM denies daily access to the facility by experienced humane observers and chooses to work behind closed doors on private land.

Large chest abscesses due to the highly contagious Pigeon Fever bacterium have been observed by the public and reported at the Fallon Holding Facility in Nevada where the Bureau of Land Management is holding, continuing to brand, process and sort over 1800 captured wild horses on private property at taxpayer expense. More than 81 equine deaths and 40 late term abortions have been recorded to date as the over stressed Calico wild horses wait an uncertain fate in feedlot-style holding pens.

The public has discovered that BLM does not count or report foals who are born and die in the pens and at least one newborn has died to date. With babies being born almost daily, advocates want them to be identified and publicly reported. More than 75 foals have now been born in the pens with their captured mothers.

“Mustangs born ‘in facility’ don't exist in BLM records, so the lives and deaths of these phantom foals are only reflected in the eyes of other horses,” states Phantom-stallion series author, Terri Farley, who first noted BLM’s refusal to document foal deaths during a site visit.

In keeping with a marked lack of transparency, the BLM has cancelled this week’s only public entrance period—of an insufficient two hours. Advocates understand the Easter cancellation but question why BLM has denied repeated requests for an alternative public observation period this week, effectively hiding the public’s horses for a 14-day period despite enormous global concern and interest in their well-being.

Advocates continue to request daily site observation and BLM refuses to cooperate, choosing instead to work in secrecy.

According to frequent humane observer, Elyse Gardner, three cases of Pigeon Fever were noted at Fallon on March 21st. By March 28th at least 12 cases were evident. Absessing horses were left with the general population—not isloated or placed in hospital pens to reduce spreading the infection. Several years ago, during a Pigeon Fever outbreak in a BLM holding facility, BLM isolated the horses into two pens so the disease did not spread into the general community. Advocates want these horses to be cared for humanely and given proper care.

In response to the public outcry, the BLM now suggests that the horses had Pigeon Fever when coming off the range in December – February despite BLM statements to network news that “these horses are healthy” and no prior reports of Pigeon Fever. Experts and witnesses throughout the roundup and capture process call BLM’s spin an absurdity and tag Pigeon Fever as a new Fallon phenomenon among these once healthy mustangs.

“It is unlikely that the Calico wild horses contracted this disease in the immensity of their wild home. This is the opinion of many equine professionals. In 16 years I have not seen or heard of the illness in a wild population of horses. What we may be seeing is yet another BLM attempt to deflect criticism of their actions. In this case, management decisions have resulted in unthinkable cruelty to the once vibrant mustangs of the Calico Mountains,” stated Ginger Kathrens, Emmy-award winning filmmaker and Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation.

Pigeon fever, sometimes called Dryland Distemper, is highly contagious and infectious, caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, which can live and multiply in the soil for up to 55 days. Frequently transmitted by flies, the fever is painful, causing lethergy, reluctance to move and, in some cases, horses abscess internally—resulting in serious conditions with up to a 40% fatality rate. Infected horses should be isolated, heat and cold packs applied to abscesses (most often on the chest area) and carefully lanced. There is no vaccine. Antibiotics may be given but do not always help speed recovery and can aggrivate absesses to develop internally. With proper treatment (nearly impossible with one wild horse, let alone dozens) recovery time is from 14-60 days. Given that the bacterium spreads most rapidly in the heat, the public is concerned that the spread of pigeon fever will increase exponentially as the weather warms and BLM fails to isolate infected animals from the larger population.

“If the public could view what’s being done to wild horses, the public would stand up and take action,” states Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves.

Links of interest:

CNN Report, Issues with Jane Valez-Mitchell and guests Wendie Malick, Ginger Kathrens and Madeleine Pickens – March 25th http://bit.ly/dvl7NE <http://bit.ly/dvl7NE>

Pigeon Fever http://oregonvma.org/care-health/pigeon-fever <http://oregonvma.org/care-health/pigeon-fever>

Horse Management of Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Article 3/21/10 http://bit.ly/92DxBo

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc <http://bit.ly/aSaeVc>

Author Terri Farley on Pigeon Fever and Phantom Foals http://terrifarley.com/blogger.html

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

American Herds Blog http://americanherds.blogspot.com/

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

San Francisco Chronicle Oped by Barbara Clark’s “ Wild horses - symbol of the West moving east?” http://bit.ly/aRcEfX <http://bit.ly/aRcEfX>

Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ <http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ>

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225>

Unified Moratorium letter and 200 signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L <http://bit.ly/6ck87L>

Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010 http://bit.ly/da7Ziy <http://bit.ly/da7Ziy>

Photos, video and interviews available from: The Cloud Foundation, 719-633-3842, makendra@thecloudfoundation.org

past press releases online: http://bit.ly/cVM0EB

107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Suzanne Roy, AWHPC Campaign Director
919-697-9389, sroy@wildhorsepreservation.com

Makendra Silverman, Associate Director, The Cloud Foundation
719-351-8187, Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org

Anne Novak, Media Relations Director, The Cloud Foundation
415-531-8454, Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org

Wild Horses Jockey for Attention of Kentucky Horse Enthusiasts through First-of-a-Kind Billboard Campaign

Wild Horse Preservation Billboards Debut This Week in Lexington and Louisville in Time for Biggest Horse Events

Lexington/Louisville, KY – March 30, 2010 – As horse enthusiasts flock to Lexington and Louisville in April to attend the big three equine events -- Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, Keeneland Race and Sales, and the Kentucky Derby -- they will be greeted by billboards urging them to take action to save America's wild horses.

"STOP WILD HORSE ROUNDUPS" - "Text MUSTANG to 44144" is the message of the billboards showcasing large ominous photos of helicopters chasing horses. The billboards debut this week and are sponsored on behalf of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/> (AWHPC) by coalition partners Return to Freedom's American Wild Horse Sanctuary <http://www.returntofreedom.org/> , Madeleine Pickens <http://www.savingamericasmustangs.org/> , The Cloud Foundation <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/> and Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue. <http://www.wildhorserescue.org/>

"Kentucky is an important international hub for equine enthusiasts and we're thrilled to launch this billboard and text advocacy campaign with the message that America's wild horses are facing their last stand on Western rangelands," said Return to Freedom founder and CEO Neda DeMayo.

"The American public, as well as the Congress, has made it clear that wild horses on federal land are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the American West and must be protected," said Madeleine Pickens. "We must all work together to preserve these magnificent animals to create a legacy all Americans can be proud of."

"America's iconic mustangs are threatened by a destructive federal policy that rounds them up by the thousands off the Western range, stockpiles them in government holding facilities in the Midwest at taxpayer expense," The Cloud Foundation director and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ginger Kathrens.

"The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) wild horse policy is bad for taxpayers, bad for the horses and bad for our nation, which, year by year is losing an important part of our heritage. It's time for change," said Jill Starr founder and director of Lifesavers.

The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign is using the same cell phone advocacy tool that recently gained notice after the filmmakers of the documentary The Cove held up a sign during their Academy Award acceptance speech asking viewers to “Text DOLPHIN” to help their cause. Respondents to the MUSTANG text outreach will be asked to join the effort to save wild horses by asking Congress to suspend BLM cruel wild horse roundups

The brutal helicopter stampedes routinely run dozens of horses to their deaths. At least 79 horses have died so far as a result of the recent BLM roundup in Nevada's Calico Mountains. More than 40

heavily pregnant mares spontaneously aborted after being chased and terrorized. Two young foals were run so far and hard over treacherous terrain that their hooves literally separated from the bone, requiring euthanasia. Dozens more horse suffered illness and injury due to the roundup.

The BLM continues to perpetuate the myth that wild horses are starving and must be rescued. The BLM's unwarranted removal of horses from the range in numbers that far exceed adoption demand has resulted in the stockpiling of over 36,000 horses in government holding pens and pastures. That number exceeds the estimated 33,000 wild horses left on the range. The program costs taxpayers over $44 million annually. Costs continue to rise as the BLM captures thousands more horses each year. (Nearly 12,000 are targeted for removal in Fiscal Year 2010 alone.)

The AWHPC is dedicated to preserving the American wild horse in viable free-roaming herds for generations to come, as part of our national heritage. Its grassroots efforts are supported by a coalition of over forty organizations representing 10 million citizens nationwide. For more information see www.wildhorsepreservation.com <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/> . The billboards are located on major arteries into Louisville and near the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. High resolution images are available upon request.

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

Media Advisory

International March for Mustangs Centers Around Washington Rally

Protests Planned for Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Los Angeles and London this Thursday

Washington, D.C. (March 23, 2010)—The public will gather in Washington and three supporting cities on March 25th for what is becoming an international March for Mustangs. Award-winning Actress and advocate, Wendie Malick will headline the press conference at the D.C. protest press conference in Lafayette Park beginning at 1:30pm. Country Music Artist, Clay Canfield, will debut his impassioned song “Wild Horses” at the close of the Rally. Advocates are coming from around the country and will conclude the rally by marching to the BLM Office at 1849 ‘C’ street with flags and banners. Malick and Canfield will be joined at the press conference by author Hope Ryden, “America’s Last Wild Horses”, Ginger Kathrens, Emmy-Award winning filmmaker and Cloud Foundation Director, Author RT Fitch and more.

"We are coming together to save America's wild horses, who are in grave danger of disappearing from our public lands” explains Wendie Malick. “We are calling for an immediate moratorium on all roundups, which have proven to be inhumane, expensive and unnecessary."

Building on over 25 protests in the U.S., singer/songwriter Maria Daines will lead the London protest organized by Cornwall’s Voice for Animals in front of the U.S. Embassy, calling for the protection and preservation of the world’s beloved American mustangs. In London voices will ring out with “Obama, hear our voices—protect America’s horses!” The London Rally will take place from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Sign-wearing advocates will walk the Las Vegas strip from 12:30 - 3:00 p.m. on March 25th, collecting signatures and educating the public about the cruel and expensive mismanagement of American mustangs and burros—over half of which are in Nevada.

Los Angeles will join the March for Mustangs and Actress/Advocate Mariana Tosca will appear at this most recently announced rally. The public will rally from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. in front of the U.S. Federal Building at 11000 Wilshire Blvd. in the Westwood Area.

“Advocates and members of the public worldwide are disgusted with the treatment of America’s wild horses and burros and are protesting Salazar's expensive plan for the removal and destruction of the last American wild mustang herds,” explains Ginger Kathrens, Director of The Cloud Foundation.

March for Mustangs comes to Washington just as Secretary Salazar attempts to persuade Congress to provide at least 42 million dollars to fund moving the first group of 26,600 western indigenous wild horses to the Midwest and East. The horses would be placed on private lands purchased at taxpayer expense. The Secretary proposes leaving only about 27,000 wild horses and burros on their remaining 30 million acres of public rangeland across ten Western states. Herds occupied at least 54 million acres at the passage of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act and the public wants captured wild horses returned to those or equivalent public lands. Highlighting the disconnect between the American public and the Department of Interior/BLM, the Salazar Plan would only further the fiscal train wreck that the Wild Horse and Burro program has become. The Secretary has so far ignored the fact that privately-owned livestock destructively graze public lands by the millions, outnumbering wild horses and burros at least 50 to 1 on BLM-managed lands alone.

As a result of the costly 40-day Calico Roundup, at least 79 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup. Neither humane observers nor the public are permitted to observe the branding and BLM “processing” now underway.

The March for Mustangs kicks off with a sneak preview of James Kleinert’s latest documentary film, Disappointment Valley ... A Modern Day Western <http://www.movingcloud.com/bio.html> . Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Daryl Hanna, Michael Blake, Ginger Kathrens and others are featured in the star-studded documentary that examines the politics behind the BLM’s controversial policies for public lands and mismanagement of America's wild horses and burros. The screening is Wednesday, March 24th, 6:00 p.m. at Busboys and Poets, 14th and V, in Washington, D.C. Following the screening a Q&A with Kleinert and Kathrens is scheduled. The sneak preview is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated, please contact bslagsvol@mac.com or makendra@thecloudfoundation.org <mailto:makendra@thecloudfoundation.org> , 719-351-8187.

# # #

The March for Mustangs DC rally is a public protest for those who are concerned with the taxpayer funded cruelty and fiscal irresponsibility of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program. Organized with thanks to the following organizations: The Cloud Foundation, Friends of Animals, The Equine Welfare Alliance, In Defense of Animals, Int’l Fund for Horses and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. The London protest organized by UK-based Cornwall’s Voice for Animals and Maria Daines, co–sponsored by The Equine Welfare Alliance and The Cloud Foundation. The Las Vegas and Los Angeles protests are organized by groups of fed up citizens in the West. Please contact the Cloud Foundation for more information on these events.

Links of interest:

Horse Management of Stampede to Extinction? Reno Gazette Article 3/21/10
http://bit.ly/92DxBo

March for Mustangs—March 25th, D.C. Rally: http://bit.ly/d8GqEY <http://%22>

Wendie Malick hopes to play Wild Horse Annie on big screen http://bit.ly/9chK4r <http://%22>

Clay Canfield http://bit.ly/chG2rI <http://%22>

Disappointment Valley Trailer & Information www.theamericanwildhorse.com <http://www.theamericanwildhorse.com/>

James Kleinert, Disappointment Valley filmmaker Moving Cloud Productions http://www.movingcloud.com/bio.html

PSA by Moving Cloud Productions on mustang situation http://bit.ly/af74jm <http://bit.ly/af74jm>

Secretary Salazar at Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing
http://bit.ly/dixny4

London Protest http://bit.ly/bw8bHL <http://bit.ly/bw8bHL>

Maria Daines http://www.maria-daines.com/music.html <http://www.maria-daines.com/music.html>

Cornwall’s Voice for Animals http://www.cornwallsvoiceforanimals.org <http://www.cornwallsvoiceforanimals.org/>

Los Angeles Protest http://bit.ly/bAbvto <http://bit.ly/bAbvto>

Las Vegas Protest http://bit.ly/cWjqmG <http://bit.ly/cWjqmG>

“A Cruel Waste” – explanatory youtube video: http://wild-horse-burro.org/ <http://wild-horse-burro.org/>

BLM Employee Testimony on lack of wild horse degradation in Nevada (from American Herds) http://bit.ly/cPHx6b <http://bit.ly/cPHx6b>

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc <http://bit.ly/aSaeVc>

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html>

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

San Francisco Chronicle Oped by Barbara Clark’s “ Wild horses - symbol of the West moving east?” http://bit.ly/aRcEfX <http://bit.ly/aRcEfX>

Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ <http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ>

The Cloud Foundation position paper on Salazar plan: http://bit.ly/cpKnum <http://bit.ly/cpKnum>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press) http://bit.ly/6UQleO <http://bit.ly/6UQleO>

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225>

Unified Moratorium letter and 200 signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L <http://bit.ly/6ck87L>

Roundup Schedule- updated February 2010 http://bit.ly/da7Ziy <http://%22>

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

Stars and Public March for Mustangs in Washington D.C.
Advocates Want Change and Transparency for Wild Horse Program

Washington, D.C. (March 18, 2010)—Escalating the call to change a system gone wrong, citizens are coming from around the nation to join the March for Mustangs in Lafayette Park on March 25th from 1:00-3:00 p.m. with a press conference at 1:30 p.m. Advocates and members of the public are calling for full protection of America’s wild horses and are protesting Salazar's expensive plan for the removal and destruction of America’s wild herds. A supporting rally will be held in London, outside the U.S. Embassy from 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. with renowned singer/songwriter Maria Daines. Out West advocates will carry banners up and down the Las Vegas strip to support the international March for Mustangs. The D.C. rally will feature speakers from across the nation including Award-winning actress and advocate, Wendie Malick; Hope Ryden, contributor to the original Wild Horse and Burro Act of 1971 and author of the classic bestseller “America’s wild horses”; Ginger Kathrens, Emmy Award winning filmmaker and Director of the Cloud Foundation and a host of other speakers. At 3:00 p.m. the group will march to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office at 1849 ‘C’ Street to conclude the rally for America’s mustangs and burros.

“We're coming to Washington to save America's last remaining herds of wild horses and burros from being managed to extinction in the West,” explains Wendie Malick, continuing “please join us at Lafayette Park, Thursday, March 25 from 1:00-3:00 p.m.”

The American public fears wild horse and burro herds are on a path to extinction as the BLM continues removing them by the thousands off their designated public lands. In the past three months more than 25 protests have been held from San Francisco to New York City calling for a moratorium on roundups, independent and accurate censusing, full scale investigations into the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program as well as added protections for the iconic animals of the West. Despite the ever-growing public outcry towards the fiscally irresponsible and inhumane mismanagement, the only response from the White House has been “no comment.”

“It’s amazing to me that the BLM falls back on the same old misinformation, that the horses could starve and the range is in poor condition. Evidence to the contrary shows healthy wild horses on healthy rangelands. We have photographs, videos, even testimony from BLM employees <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/blm-photo-2004-warm-springs-hma-wild.html> to this effect," explains Ginger Kathrens.

March for Mustangs comes to Washington just as Secretary Salazar attempts to persuade Congress to provide at least 42 million dollars to fund moving the first group of 26,600 wild horses to the Midwest and East. The horses would be placed on private lands purchased at taxpayer expense. The Secretary proposes leaving only about 27,000 wild horses and burros on their remaining 30 million acres of public rangeland in the West. Herds occupied at least 54 million acres at the passage of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act and the public wants captured wild horses returned to those or equivalent public lands. Highlighting the disconnect between the American public and the Department of Interior/BLM, the Salazar Plan would only further the fiscal train wreck that the Wild Horse and Burro program has become.

As a result of the recent million dollar-plus, 40-day Calico Roundup, more than 77 mustangs have died and nearly 40 females have aborted their late term foals in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens—where the death toll rises daily as a result of the winter roundup. BLM stopped the roundup early when they admitted they had significantly over-counted the wild horses left on the range and were “satisfied” with the roundup. Despite widespread international interest in these horses and their welfare, the BLM continues to “process” the remaining 1800-plus wild horses under a veil of secrecy, allowing the public and humane observers to enter the private holding facility for only two hours each Sunday—by reservation.

“Many of the dead include mares and stallions in their twenties who deserved to die with dignity on the land of their birth,” states Ginger Kathrens, producer of the acclaimed Cloud documentaries and Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “Instead, these old horses were forced to run miles over back-breaking, volcanic ground, chased by a helicopter in the dead of winter when all their energies should have been focused on surviving until spring. For them, spring never came.”

Meanwhile, thousands of privately-owned cattle graze on the Calico wild horse herd areas, bringing in revenues to the BLM of around $40,000 per year—less than the cost to hold the captive horses at Fallon for four days. Annually American taxpayers lose $123 million running the taxpayer subsidized grazing program, referred to as “welfare ranching”. The grazing fee is currently the lowest allowed by law—$1.35 per cow/calf pair per month. A grazing fee hike of 600% would be required to cover the administrative costs of the program alone. Outnumbered 100:1 by cattle on public lands, wild horses and burros represent less than 0.5% of hooved animals on America’s public lands.

The March for Mustangs kicks off with a sneak preview of James Kleinert’s latest documentary film, Disappointment Valley ... A Modern Day Western <http://www.movingcloud.com/bio.html> . Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Darryl Hanna, Michael Blake, Ginger Kathrens and others are featured in the star-studded documentary that examines the politics behind the BLM’s controversial policies for public lands and mismanagement of America's wild horses and burros. The screening is Wednesday, March 24th, 6:00 p.m. at Busboys and Poets, 14th and V, in Washington, D.C. Following the screening a Q&A with Kleinert and Kathrens is scheduled. The sneak preview is free and open to the public. RSVPs are appreciated, please contact bslagsvol@mac.com or makendra@thecloudfoundation.org <mailto:makendra@thecloudfoundation.org> , 719-351-8187.

“Wild horses are living things who have a right to coexist in what is a vast landscape, which is the American West," states Viggo Mortensen in Kleinert’s film adding, “Let’s do something about this.”

# # #

The March for Mustangs DC rally hosted by Friends of Animals and is co-sponsored by The Cloud Foundation, The Equine Welfare Alliance, In Defense of Animals, Int’l Fund for Horses and the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign. The London protest organized by UK-based Cornwall’s Voice for Animals and Maria Daines, co–sponsored by The Equine Welfare Alliance and The Cloud Foundation. The Las Vegas protest is organized by a group of fed up citizens in the West. Please contact the Cloud Foundation for more information on these events.

Links of interest:

March for Mustangs—March 25th, D.C. Rally: http://bit.ly/d8GqEY

Disappointment Valley Trailer & Information www.theamericanwildhorse.com <http://www.theamericanwildhorse.com/>

James Kleinert, Disappointment Valley filmmaker Moving Cloud Productions http://www.movingcloud.com/bio.html

PSA by Moving Cloud Productions on mustang situation http://bit.ly/af74jm <http://bit.ly/af74jm>

Secretary Salazar at Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing
http://bit.ly/dixny4

London Protest http://bit.ly/bw8bHL <http://bit.ly/bw8bHL>

Maria Daines http://www.maria-daines.com/music.html <http://www.maria-daines.com/music.html>

Cornwall’s Voice for Animals http://www.cornwallsvoiceforanimals.org <http://www.cornwallsvoiceforanimals.org/>

Las Vegas Protest http://bit.ly/cWjqmG <http://bit.ly/cWjqmG>
Organized by Arlene Gawne

“A Cruel Waste” – explanatory youtube video: http://wild-horse-burro.org/ <http://wild-horse-burro.org/>

BLM Employee Testimony on lack of wild horse degradation in Nevada (from American Herds) http://bit.ly/cPHx6b

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc <http://bit.ly/aSaeVc>

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html>

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

San Francisco Chronicle Oped by Barbara Clark’s “ Wild horses - symbol of the West moving east?” http://bit.ly/aRcEfX

Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ <http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ>

The Cloud Foundation position paper on Salazar plan: http://bit.ly/cpKnum <http://bit.ly/cpKnum>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press) http://bit.ly/6UQleO <http://bit.ly/6UQleO>

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L <http://bit.ly/6ck87L>

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010 http://bit.ly/5AmMLm <http://bit.ly/5AmMLm>

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation news@thecloudfoundation.org
719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana. 107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen and Ginger Kathrens Speak Out to Save The American Mustang in Kleinert’s New Film

Filmmaker calls to protect legendary American wild horses in the West

Washington, DC (March 10, 2010)—International award-winning filmmaker, James Kleinert, screens his latest star-studded film, Disappointment Valley ... A Modern Day Western, featuring Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen and Darryl Hannah, on Wednesday, March 24 in Washington DC. Kleinert’s documentary examines the politics behind the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) controversial policies on public lands while questioning the fate of America's wild horses and burros. The screening begins at 6:00pm at Busboys and Poets, 14th and V, Washington, DC. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Kleinert and Emmy-Award Winning filmmaker and wild horse advocate, Ginger Kathrens, who also appears in the film. The screening will be followed by the “March for Mustangs” rally on March 25th in Lafayette Park from 1:00pm- 3:00pm to stop the destruction of America’s wild horse and burro herds. Actress Wendie Malick will join speakers Kathrens, Kleinert and more for a 1:30pm press conference.

“Wild horses are living things who have a right to coexist in what is a vast landscape, which is the American west."- Viggo Mortensen, Actor/Advocate

Disappointment Valley centers around dramatic footage of heart-wrenching wild horse roundups and interviews with Jim Baca, (former Director of the Bureau of Land Management), Michael Blake, (Writer, Dances With Wolves), Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Daryl Hannah, Congressmen Raul M. Grijalva, American Indian Actor and advocate Raoul Trijullo, energy consultant Randy Udall, scientific experts, animal rights and environmental activists. Probing deeply into the issue, the documentary examines the effects of the 2004 legislation that cleared the way for the removal and slaughter of America’s wild horses.

"The BLM is not just trying to destroy wild horse herds, they're really challenging the system of democracy in the US and this is a very, very dangerous path they've gone down" –Ginger Kathrens, filmmaker of the popular PBS Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies programs and Director of The Cloud Foundation.

Disappointment Valley documents the struggle of the legendary mustangs who have long symbolized freedom, individualism and the wild spirit in America. However, greed and corruption take center stage, exposing deceit within the BLM. The film delves into the current impacts on western public lands by oil, gas, mining and corporate cattle grazing.

“I hope this film will not only educate viewers about the disturbing, massive removals of our wild horses but inspire change to protect these precious animals in the West,” explains Kleinert. A former World Cup competitor in freestyle skiing aerials, and a top action, environmental and Native American filmmaker, Kleinert’s short film Wild Horse Spirit was pivotal in the 2007 Emmy award-winning PBS series Natural Hero's.

"As remarkable as a distant sight of wild horses can be, it remains the tip of a glorious iceberg. The actual lives of wild horses reveal to humanity the privilege of having a life on the planet earth and how vital it is to respect the privilege."- Michael Blake, Author Dances with Wolves and Twelve the King.

James Kleinert works closely with the Spirit Riders Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit (www.spiritridersfoundation.org <http://www.spiritridersfoundation.org/> ). The Spirit Riders Foundation produces multimedia state of the art audio-visual programming to educate, enlighten, entertain and to create positive understanding, hope and action among people and cultures. These materials are designed to foster harmony and understanding by empowering the human spirit, mind and body.

Reservations for the screening are recommended but not required, please contact: Elizabeth Slagsvol at BSlagsvol@mac.com or Makendra Silverman, makendra@thecloudfoundation.org, 719-351-8187
Venue capacity: 80 people

# # #

Links of interest:

Disappointment Valley Trailer & Information www.theamericanwildhorse.com <http://www.theamericanwildhorse.com>

James Kleinert, filmmaker Moving Cloud Productions http://www.movingcloud.com/bio.html

PSA by Moving Cloud Productions on mustangs in danger http://bit.ly/af74jm

March for Mustangs- March 25th, DC Rally: http://bit.ly/d8GqEY <http://bit.ly/d8GqEY>
Hosted by Friends of Animals and co-sponsored by a group of organizations

Spirit Riders Foundation: www.spiritridersfoundation.org <http://www.spiritridersfoundation.org/>

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc <http://bit.ly/aSaeVc>

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html>

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

“A Cruel Waste” – explanatory youtube video: http://wild-horse-burro.org/ <http://wild-horse-burro.org/>

Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ <http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ>

The Cloud Foundation position paper on Salazar plan—Oct. 2009: http://bit.ly/cpKnum <http://bit.ly/cpKnum>

Good Morning America at Calico http://bit.ly/bXtwd5 <http://bit.ly/bXtwd5>

New York Times “Horses Die in Roundup” http://nyti.ms/atZqF5 <http://nyti.ms/atZqF5>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press) http://bit.ly/6UQleO <http://bit.ly/6UQleO>

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L <http://bit.ly/6ck87L>

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010 http://bit.ly/5AmMLm <http://bit.ly/5AmMLm>

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

The Cloud Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the preservation and protection of wild horses and burros on our Western public lands with a focus on protecting Cloud's herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
107 S. 7th St. - Colorado Springs, CO 80905. www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

Public Opposes Salazar’s Request for Millions to Move Mustangs East

Americans want to keep their wild horses in the West

Colorado Springs, CO (March 1, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation and members of the public are calling on their Senators to oppose the dubious Salazar Plan— to move captured wild horses East. On March 3rd Secretary Ken Salazar is expected to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to request $42 million to implement phase one of what many are calling the “SalaZoo Plan”, a call for moving thousands of mustangs (mares and neutered stallions) to taxpayer purchased lands in the Midwest and East. With Salazar’s plan, announced last October, only a few “treasured” wild horse and burro herds may be left in the West. The Secretary, a former Colorado U.S. Senator and will attempt to convince Senators that the West is out of room for wild horses and they must be moved East for their own good. The Cloud Foundation contends that the Salazar Plan this is cruel, unnecessary, and enormously costly to taxpayers and wild herds alike.

There are now more wild horses in expensive government holding that there are on 29 million acres of public lands and less than a quarter of wild herds are managed at genetically viable levels. Advocates continue making clear demands for the return of wild horses to the over 24 -58 million acres of public lands where legally designated wild horse herds have been zeroed out since passage of the Wild Horse and Burro Act in 1971. When Congress unanimously passed the Act, it stated that our wild herds were to be managed as “an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.”

“How about putting the mustangs back out on the lands where BLM zeroed them out?” asks Eric Wright, Nevada resident and wild horse photographer. “BLM can’t even explain what happened to 24 -58 million acres where wild horses were to be managed. Just last fall they completely zeroed out 12 herds outside of Ely, Nevada—lands where mustangs have roamed for centuries. Now the land is suddenly ‘inappropriate for wild horses’ but still appropriate for some thousands of head of cattle.”

After a 2006 town hall meeting in Greeley Colorado, then U.S. Senate candidate Salazar, told Barbara Flores, a longtime wild horse advocate, that wild horses don’t belong on public lands. Clearly, his opinion remains unchanged. The Secretary’s plan to move thousands of mustangs East onto private lands purchased on the taxpayer’s dime and to continue the massive roundups would spell the end of America’s celebrated Western Herds on the public’s land.

“The Secretary’s plan is fiscal insanity and just the opposite of what Congress intended when it passed the Wild Horse and Burro Act,” stated Ginger Kathrens, filmmaker of the Cloud series and executive director of The Cloud Foundation. “Whether you like wild horses and burros or not, every taxpayer should be up arms over this. And the SalaZoo plan is a potential health disaster for western wild horses shipped east. Did the Secretary ever think about trimming the feet every six weeks of thousands of wild horses now on grassy pastures? Or the risks of humidity and non-native forage? What about rain rot, colic, founder, or the other illnesses and conditions wild horses would need to overcome in the East?”

Already over 34,000 wild horse are warehoused by the BLM at a cost of over $3.3 million per month. According to American Herds <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html> an estimated 15,000 or fewer wild horses and burros remain in the wild. BLM admits they have no accurate census. The remaining half of their $67.5 million budget goes directly to removing thousands more wild horses in expensive helicopter roundups by private contractors, one of whom was convicted of using aircraft to hunt wild horse horses, aiding and abetting. Those horses were sent to slaughter in Texas. “This contractor has continued to receive millions of taxpayer dollars even though he violated the very law the BLM is mandated to uphold,” commented Julianne French, an Arizona wild horse and burro advocate. “The management of this program is so broken, it’s hard to know where to clean house first. And Salazar’s plan just compounds the problem.”

The public disagrees with the Salazar Plan. “It seems a real stretch that captured, neutered mustangs would be an ecotourism draw the East,” remarked advocate Marian Jo Souder of Ohio. “I’d sure rather see mustangs and burros in their natural western ranges, not in eastern holding fields.” Already over 22,000 wild horses are kept in holding pastures in Kansas and Oklahoma. The only difference between BLM’s current “long-term holding” and Salazar’s “preserves” according to DOI Undersecretary Sylvia Baca is that the public would be allowed to view these captured horses. Her comments were made at the December, 2009 BLM National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Reno, Nevada.

The Salazar plan only highlights the enormous disconnect between the public and the so-called Rogue BLM agency. One advocate in Oklahoma remarked, “As far as the Salazar plan, my great grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee who walked the trail of tears. I don't see Salazar’s ‘preserves’ as much different from the reservations my family members were forced to move to.”

In the recent million dollar-plus, 40-day Calico Roundup, over 1900 mustangs were pushed by helicopters from their stark and beautiful mountain stronghold in NW Nevada. At least 64 mustangs have died in this winter roundup with that number climbing daily and over 35 late term abortions have been reported in the Fallon, Nevada holding pens. BLM stopped the roundup early when they admitted they had significantly over-counted the wild horses left on the range. Meanwhile thousands of privately-owned cattle still graze those same wild horse herd areas bringing in revenues to the BLM of around $40,000 per year – less than what it cost to hold the Fallon horses for four days. Annually American taxpayers lose $123 million running the taxpayer subsidized grazing program, referred to as “welfare ranching”. The grazing fee is currently the lowest allowed by law—$1.35 per cow/calf pair per month. A grazing fee hike of 600% would be required to pay for just the costs of administration of the program. Outnumbered 100:1 by cattle on public lands, wild horses and burros represent less than 0.5% of hooved animals on our public lands.

Americans from across the nation will gather in Washington DC on March 25th (March for Mustangs <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/events/details/48-march-for-mustangs-in-dc> ) to protest Salazar's plan for the removal and destruction of America’s Western wild herds. Advocates want a truly sustainable plan to protect wild horses and burros in the West.

“It is time to reveal the BLM wild horse and burro program for what it is— a deceitful and inhumane waste of taxpayer money. What other program aims to destroy what it is charged to protect with such willful disregard to the public they serve?” asks Ginger Kathrens.

# # #

Links of interest:

American Herds - "What's Left?" http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/12/whats-left.html

March for Mustangs- March 25th, DC Rally: http://bit.ly/d8GqEY

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

BLM Daily Reports from Calico Roundup/Fallon Holding: http://bit.ly/aSaeVc

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

“A Cruel Waste” – explanatory youtube video: http://wild-horse-burro.org/

Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ

The Cloud Foundation position paper on Salazar plan—Oct. 2009: http://bit.ly/cpKnum

Good Morning America at Calico http://bit.ly/bXtwd5 <http://bit.ly/bXtwd5>

New York Times “Horses Die in Roundup” http://nyti.ms/atZqF5 <http://nyti.ms/atZqF5>

Feds Deny Gas Pipeline Related to Wild Horse Roundup http://bit.ly/buLfh5 <http://bit.ly/buLfh5>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit. America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories http://bit.ly/6ck87L <http://bit.ly/6ck87L>

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010 http://bit.ly/5AmMLm <http://bit.ly/5AmMLm>

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-633-3842

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

Captured Wild Mustangs Die As BLM Bars Public Observers

The Calico Wild Horse Roundup death toll exceeds 60 as public alarm grows

Fallon, NV (February 25, 2010)— At least 62 federally-protected American wild horses have died due to the controversial Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Calico roundup in Nevada as of today. An additional 35 late term abortions have been recorded in the Fallon feedlot-style holding facility where 1869 captured mustangs are corralled at enormous taxpayer expense. Advocates are being denied access to observe horses as the death toll rises. At least one horse died during BLM "processing" operations. The public and humane observers want access to view how their tax money is being spent and to verify the horses are being treated humanely. Standard processing procedures are generally open to the public to observe without issue. Advocates question if there is something to hide.

"Moving forward with this winter roundup was a huge mistake on the part of BLM. Two years ago a February roundup in Nevada resulted in the death of 85 horses. I would hope BLM never rounds up wild horses again in the dead of winter," says Ginger Kathrens, Director of the Cloud Foundation.

American taxpayers are paying over $10,000 a day to hold the captured Calico horses at the privately owned Broken Arrow holding facility. Processing (freeze-branding, inoculating, tagging) adds thousands more to the cost. BLM has denied repeated requests for even two humane advocate observers to be present during processing and allows public visits by reservation only for two hours each Sunday. The Cloud Foundation and the public are seriously alarmed by the rising death toll and BLM’s complete lack of transparency and accountability. Promised vet reports have not been posted since February 1st as horses perish daily.

“The public deserves to have people who can watch and document how our tax dollars are being spent. Allowing humane advocate observers into the facility would be a good first step in restoring trust in an agency that has thumbed their nose at the American public while rounding up and destroying America’s mustang heritage,” states Ginger Kathrens.

Humane observers would not inhibit the processing or frighten horses during processing and would allow the concerned public a view of what is going on during processing of these publicly-owned horses. The BLM removed the mustangs from public lands despite a federal judge’s suggestion that the roundup be delayed and over 10,000 public comments asking the BLM to stop their winter roundup plans.

BLM has given indications that they will select “impartial” observers to watch the proceedings. “I think that the public and wild horse advocates should be able to send their own humane observers, not hand picked and selected people that will not criticize the BLM. That would be much like the skewed public Advisory Board that also fails to represent the welfare of our wild herds,” stated Julianne French, an Arizona wild horse advocate.

Wild horse and burro advocates will protest in Washington DC on March 25th. The rally “March for Mustangs” will start in Lafayette Park at 1:00pm with a press conference at 1:30pm, concluding with a march to BLM offices.

# # #

Links of interest:

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb <http://bit.ly/9f1DYb>

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

A Cruel Waste – explanatory youtube video: http://wild-horse-burro.org/ <http://%22/>

Don Glenn public statement on openness of roundups to public: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvCE5PTIARA <http://%22/>

Rebuttal to Salazar’s plan in LA Times: http://bit.ly/a3T6GJ

The Cloud Foundation position paper on DOI plan—Oct. 2009: http://bit.ly/cpKnum

Good Morning America at Calico http://bit.ly/bXtwd5 <http://bit.ly/bXtwd5>

New York Times “Horses Die in Roundup” http://nyti.ms/atZqF5 <http://nyti.ms/atZqF5>

Feds Deny Gas Pipeline Related to Wild Horse Roundup http://bit.ly/buLfh5 <http://bit.ly/buLfh5>

Ruby Pipeline: The Smoking Gun? http://bit.ly/c4pfOA <http://bit.ly/c4pfOA>

Wild Horse Emergency PSA with Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortenson http://vimeo.com/8441353 <http://vimeo.com/8441353>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild horse plan (Associated Press)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses - A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010
http://bit.ly/5AmMLm

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation 719-633-3842

news@thecloudfoundation.org

www.thecloudfoundation.org
< http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

For Immediate Release

BLM Denies Public Access to Captured Calico Mustangs During Processing

Americans are wondering what BLM is hiding as processing of nearly 1900 wild horses begins in Nevada. Protests continue to save an American icon as President Obama heads West

Colorado Springs, CO (February 17, 2010)— The Cloud Foundation objects to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) severe limitations placed on viewing of the wild horses captured in the controversial Calico Wild Horse roundup. Despite the enormous cost to the American taxpayers and the controversial nature of the roundup, the BLM and the Department of Interior (DOI) are denying requests for independent humane observers during the processing of nearly 1900 mustangs over the next few months in preparation for their long term holding or adoption. During this dangerous time for the mustangs, the public will be denied an opportunity to view BLM running the animals through alleyways and into chutes where they will be freeze-branded, inoculated and neck-tagged.

“I’ve been watching the processing of mustangs on and off for 15 years. What is the big deal this time?” Asks Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation, “There’s something very wrong when it’s easier to crash a party at the White House than go view our wild horses being freeze-branded in Nevada. Makes you wonder if there’s something to hide out in Fallon?”

49 horses have died as the result of the roundup. This does not include the 30 plus mares that have aborted their late-term foals in the feedlot style corrals in Fallon, Nevada. The 4% death rate is over eight times the BLM expected level for a helicopter roundup. Foals are now being born in the pens and the public is not permitted to confirm young, sick and old animals are being humanely treated in a timely fashion.

BLM says that the shut down of the facility is a safety issue due to the horses being continuously in facility alleyways during the preparation process. Given the high level of interest The Cloud Foundation asks BLM to figure out a way to safely allow the public to observe.

“Processing our wild horses in secret does nothing but promote suspicion on the part of the public who simply request to have independent representatives present to verify that our horses are being treated humanely,” said Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist and Nevada wild horse advocate. “Denying American citizens the right to watch over their horses is a very disturbing trend, and simply throws fuel on a spreading fire.”

1922 wild horses were captured in the 40-day dead-of-winter helicopter roundup which stopped weeks early and over 600 horses short when BLM discovered fewer wild horses than anticipated in the huge 500,000 acre Calico Mountains of northwestern Nevada. The horses are now being housed at a cost to the taxpayer of approximately $75,000 per week while the death toll continues to rise. One stallion was euthanized on Monday, however, vet reports are now being withheld so the official reason for killing the stallion is unknown.

Despite Wild Horse and Burro Chief Don Glenn’s promise that the public is welcome “anytime” to view the roundups, the BLM conducted the Calico roundup with limited access. Now BLM has repeatedly denied official requests from the Cloud Foundation and others to allow even two members of the public to be present during processing of horses which began February 15. Ed Roberson, Assistant Director, Renewable Resources and Planning with the DOI told The Cloud Foundation in an email last week not to worry about the horses as “we have a licensed vet on site during the prep work to ensure humane treatment.” Given BLM’s reticence to release vet reports from Fallon this is no consolation to the concerned public.

By disallowing access to any independent humane observers, BLM’s “bunker” mentality appears to have trumped any requests for transparency. “If American citizens are willing to travel to Fallon, Nevada to check on and observe wild horses that have been removed from public lands against the public will by a federal agency, why is this access being denied?” asks RT Fitch, Texas author of the popular book Straight from the Horses Heart.

Meanwhile the captured Calico wild horses, many still with swollen joints and injuries from being run over sharp volcanic rock by helicopters, stand in pens without windbreaks. “Topography credited by the BLM as a natural wind break is a joke. I’ve been to Fallon and I’ve seen the conditions these horses are exposed to—no cover, no windbreaks except for some of the ‘hospital’ pens”, explains Terri Farley. The celebrated children’s author of the Phantom Stallion series, based on the Calico mustangs, visited the holding facility on February 11th with a professional photographer whose photos will soon be posted at www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org> .

To combat the continuing roundups of America’s wild horses and burros, Nevada is planning two protests in coming days to gain the attention of a visiting President Barack Obama. On Thursday, February 18th, protestors will unfurl over 50 banners along Las Vegas Boulevard calling for a stop to the roundups which will remove half of Nevada’s wild horses this year. On Saturday, February 20th the public will gather in Carson City, Nevada to further protest the tax-payer funded destruction of America’s Wild Horses and Burros.

According to Wild Horse and Burro Chief, Don Glenn, the facility is charging the government around $5.75 per day/per horse. That amounts to over $10,000 taxpayer dollars per day to house the mustangs. The cost of the Calico roundup alone was at least $1 million and holding of horses will cost taxpayers additional millions.

While nearly 2,000 Calico mustangs languish and die in Fallon, thousands of privately-owned cattle still graze the Calico wild horse herd areas, bringing in revenues to the BLM of around $40,000 per year. The cost to administer the grazing program for the Calico area is six times this amount based on the national average for the program as calculated by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO reported that yearly revenues from the national public lands grazing program are $21 million per year, while the costs to administer the grazing program are $144 million per year, resulting in a yearly loss to the American taxpayer of $123 million. This taxpayer subsidized grazing program is often referred to as “welfare ranching” due to the small fees charged to livestock permittees. The rate is currently the lowest allowed by law—$1.35 per cow/calf pair per month.

# # #

Links of interest:

News Story on Calico, rising death toll & skewed numbers from George Knapp (KLAS- Las Vegas): http://bit.ly/9f1DYb

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

Court Case: In Defense of Animals and Craig Downer v. Secretary Salazar http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ <http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ>

Good Morning America at Calico http://bit.ly/bXtwd5 <http://bit.ly/bXtwd5>

New York Times “Horses Die in Roundup” http://nyti.ms/atZqF5 <http://nyti.ms/atZqF5>

Feds Deny Gas Pipeline Related to Wild Horse Roundup http://bit.ly/buLfh5 <http://bit.ly/buLfh5>

Ruby Pipeline: The Smoking Gun? http://bit.ly/c4pfOA <http://bit.ly/c4pfOA>

Wild Horse Emergency PSA with Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortenson http://vimeo.com/8441353 <http://vimeo.com/8441353>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration’s wild-horse plan (Associated Press)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
- A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010
http://bit.ly/5AmMLm

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415.531.8454

For Immediate Release

AUTHORING CHANGE FOR WILD HORSES AND THE READERS WHO LOVE THEM

Terri Farley partners up with The Cloud Foundation to launch the International ‘Heart for Horses’ campaign

Reno, NV (February 10, 2010)—When government helicopters stampeded the last wild horses out of the snowy Calico Mountains into traps outside of the public’s view, Terri Farley <http://www.TerriFarley.com/> , author of HarperCollins’ best-selling PHANTOM STALLION series based on the Calico mustangs, decided to take action.

“The true privilege of any wild horse is to live a life of freedom, surrounded by their family in the land of their birth. Fewer and fewer have that privilege,” says Cloud Foundation founder, Ginger Kathrens <http://www.TheCloudFoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors> , whose films and books about Cloud and his wild herd are real-life adventures. “Terri’s books may be fiction, but they capture so realistically the drama of living wild and free. And, like her wild horse characters, she too has grit and determination. She is not afraid to stand up and speak for our mustangs who seem to have no voice or place in the Obama Administration.”

In response to her readers, Farley partners with The Cloud Foundation to launch the Hearts for Horses <http://www.phantomstallion.com/hearts_for_horses.shtml> campaign which answers the question: What can I do to help the mustangs?

Visitors to PhantomStallion.com <http://www.PhantomStallion.com/> , TerriFarley.com <http://www.TerriFarley.com/> and TheCloudFoundation.org <http://www.TheCloudFoundation.org/> will find the Hearts for Horses campaign—a list of ways they can work to protect wild herds. Launched today, the campaign will continue until a moratorium on all roundups is in effect. A moratorium is necessary to provide time for hearings regarding the BLM’s mismanagement of wild herds on the public’s land and to create a sustainable plan for wild horse and burro management in the West.

Supporters are encouraged to cut out paper hearts; decorate them with glitter and messages before sending them to First Lady Michelle Obama. They can make short YouTube videos showing the plight of the horses, print out petitions, find reading lists, articles and more ways to get involved.

Farley devoted much of 2009 to bringing the world of wild horses into classrooms, libraries and conferences. Most recently, she’s been interviewed by the national media and addressed rallies to save America’s wild horses and burros.

The writer isn’t sure she’s cut out for activism, but says PHANTOM STALLION fans leave her little choice.

“When my stories show readers that they should speak up for what they believe, even if their voices shake, I can’t very well sit home at my computer with a cup of tea and a cat on my lap, can I?” comments Farley.

Already Farley hears from hundreds of readers daily. “I max out my email limit constantly,” she says. Understandable as the PHANTOM STALLION series has sold over a million copies internationally.

“These kids are readers and they love wild horses,” she says. “They’re giving themselves a crash course in democracy so they can be sure Congress knows what they’re thinking. Their letters speak of the balance of nature, compensatory reproduction and viable herd genetics. I guess they’re learning some biology, too. So, really, they shouldn’t be dismissed as teary-eyed kids. They’re writing from their heads as well as their hearts.”

The most recent BLM roundup ended weeks ahead of schedule and 600 mustangs short of their 2,500 horse goal with BLM saying they “were satisfied” and stating that 600 mustangs now remained on the half million acres, formerly the last stronghold of the American wild horse. Before the hasty ending, at least 39 horses had died including two foals (under a year old) who literally had their hooves run off as a result of the roundup. Many of the horses shot or euthanized were old mares (females). Some were in their twenties. More than 30 mares have spontaneously aborted their foals in the corrals resulting from the stressful winter roundup. Advocates expect that number to increase.

The public cannot be sure how many horses will die as the BLM begins “processing”—gelding (sterilizing) the stallions and freeze-branding all 1922 captured mustangs. BLM is denying humane observers and the public the right to visit the facility after Saturday February 13th. With the pending lawsuit, advocates state the BLM must not castrate the stallions since there is a possibility of returning them to the wild. If the lawsuit does not protect the Calico horses then their eventual fate is to be warehoused at taxpayer expense, joining 34,000 mustangs already in holding. There are now far more wild horses in holding than in the wild.

The assault on some of the horses closest to Farley’s heart—the Calico herds—convinced her to join a federal lawsuit to stop the roundup. Farley became a plaintiff in the case In Defense of Animals v. Secretary Salazar in December 2009. The preliminary injunction to stop the roundup in December was denied but the animal cruelty case will be heard April 30, 2010 in Washington.

“These round-ups aren’t being done to save the range or protect the horses,” says Farley, “and you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to suspect they are being conducted in response to special interests with deep pockets.”

She devoted 2009 to talking about wild horses instead of writing about them, readers approve, but are impatient. Farley is eager to get back to her computer, to the West she can control with a keystroke, but she refuses to let the mustangs disappear without a fight.

“I don’t want to grow old in a world where kids believe wild horses only lived in fairy tales—like unicorns.”

The American public has protested in nearly 20 cities from coast to coast and rallies for the wild horses will continue in Missoula, MT (February 12), Estes Park (February 13), Las Vegas Nevada (Febuary 18) and Carson City, NV (February 20).

# # #

Links of interest:

The Phantom Stallion http://PhantomStallion.com <http://PhantomStallion.com/>

Terri Farley http://TerriFarley.com <http://TerriFarley.com/>

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/ <http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/>

Court Case: In Defense of Animals and Craig Downer v. Secretary Salazar http://bit.ly/d6wOUQ

Good Morning America at Calico http://bit.ly/bXtwd5

New York Times “Horses Die in Roundup” http://nyti.ms/atZqF5

Feds Deny Gas Pipeline Related to Wild Horse Roundup http://bit.ly/buLfh5 <http://bit.ly/buLfh5>

Ruby Pipeline: The Smoking Gun? http://bit.ly/c4pfOA

Wild Horse Emergency PSA with Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortenson http://vimeo.com/8441353

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration's wild-horse plan (Associated Press)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
- A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010
http://bit.ly/5AmMLm

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contact:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415.531.8454

For Immediate Release

BLM Pulls Plug on Contested Million Dollar Wild Horse Roundup

Calico Roundup ends with 1922 Mustangs in captivity, 39 dead and the Eagle Roundup just around the corner

Reno NV (February 5, 2010)—The Bureau of Land Management has pulled the plug on the massive roundup of wild horses in the Calico Complex, 600 short of their 2,500 goal, and leaving only a reported 600 in the wild. This remote and starkly beautiful area in northwestern Nevada was home to one of the largest wild, free-roaming herds of wild horses in the United States. In light of the shocking number of roundup-related deaths and injuries the Cloud Foundation continues the call for an immediate moratorium on all roundups. 39 horses are reported dead as a result of the Calico ‘gather’. This does not include the 25-30 mares that have aborted their late term foals in the feedlot style facility outside Fallon, Nevada. The death toll is expected to rise as BLM begins processing the horses in a few days (freeze-branding, gelding of stallions, etc.). However, the public may not know what happens from here on out, as BLM has decided not to provide veterinary reports on the cause of death in the new Fallon facility, according to BLM manager, John Neill.

“Thousands of Americans protested this the dead of winter assault on the last wild horse stronghold remaining in the United States,” stated Ginger Kathrens, Emmy winning producer and director of the Cloud Foundation. “I hope this is an eye-opener for Congress and that the huge outcry against these cruel and unnecessary roundups will be a wake-up call for the President. BLM continues to make a fiscal train wreck of the Wild Horse and Burro Program. While millions of privately-owned welfare cattle occupy public lands, a few thousand horses are targeted for removal, using the tired and ridiculous reason that the native horses do the damage, not the exotic cattle.’’

Despite a public statement by Don Glenn (December 7 at the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board Meeting in Reno) in which he said that the public is welcome to view the roundups all the time (hence no need for a humane observer), the public was allowed only limited access to watch the Calico roundup. Viewing was limited to Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays by appointment only. Only a total of 10 observers were allowed per day. Even on the days the public was allowed to attend, viewers were required to leave between 1 and 2 in the afternoon, even though the Cattoor contract crew and helicopters continued to round up wild horses seven days a week as winter storms allowed. Close access was denied for the last two weeks of the operation. Injuries could not be detected or documented. BLM has referred to the visitors as “anti-gather advocates”. The contractors admitted that 30 wild horses captured on January 31 were left overnight in a crowded capture corral without water due to muddy conditions which prevented trucks from accessing the capture sight.

Now BLM sights are set on the wild horses of the Eagle Complex in the mountains of eastern Nevada. The area is larger than the state of Rhode Island, yet the number of mustangs allowable according to BLM is 100. At the same time, the number of privately-owned welfare cattle allowed is over 2,700.

The Cloud Foundation, noted celebrities, over 160 organizations and Americans from coast-to-coast continue to protest and demand a moratorium on the roundups before the wild horse is just an image in one of Kathrens’ Cloud documentaries.

# # #

Links of interest:

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/

Good Morning America at Calico http://bit.ly/bXtwd5

New York Times “Horses Die in Roundup” http://nyti.ms/atZqF5

Feds Deny Gas Pipeline Related to Wild Horse Roundup http://bit.ly/buLfh5 <http://bit.ly/buLfh5>

Ruby Pipeline: The Smoking Gun? http://bit.ly/c4pfOA

Wild Horse Emergency PSA with Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortenson http://vimeo.com/8441353

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration's wild-horse plan (Associated Press)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
- A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010
http://bit.ly/5AmMLm

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

Media Contact:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415.531.8454

For Immediate Release

Wild Horse Roundup Humane Observer Calls for Help--Meets with Feinstein’s Office and Speaks to Public

Novato resident will show slides, describe cruelty and inhumane treatment at tax payer expense

San Francisco, CA (February 4, 2010)—Elyse Gardner, the ‘humane observer’ for the horses comes home to give a first hand account of the controversial Calico roundup. Gardner has been observing and documenting the roundup of 2500 wild horses in the Calico Mountain area of northwestern Nevada since late December. Her blog (www.humaneobserver.blogspot.com <http://www.humaneobserver.blogspot.com/> ) helps people worldwide stay informed due to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) lack of transparency. At least 34 mustangs have died to date and 25-30 mares have had late term, spontaneous abortions in the corrals likely due to the stress of the roundup. Two foals have had their feet run off and more deaths are being reported every day in a roundup that the BLM is conducting seven days a week with limited public access. Back in California for one day only, the passionate and well-spoken Gardner will be meeting with Senator Feinstein’s aide, Mr. Molinari, in the morning and will speak to the interested public and media on the cruelty seen at the roundup tonight. The free talk will be held in Petaluma at Roundtable Pizza (the Excalibur room), 1520 E Washington from 7:00-9:00pm, today, February 4.

“BLM is creating a fabrication a scenario in which horses are starving and need to be rescued” explains Gardner. “Doing something wrong for many years does not make it right. These horses were gorgeous and healthy. Again and again, I see how they know how to live in their habitat. They are now being subjected to cruelty that the BLM is doing their best to hide. We want and need an immediate moratorium on all roundups if we are to save our wild herds.”

20-30 mares have aborted their late term foals according to BLM. The Agency claims this is because of poor forage on the range. “This is a smoke screen on the part of BLM,” states Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation who has spent 15 years documenting mustangs in the wild for her Cloud programs on PBS as well as other films on horses. “A much more likely reason is that BLM has chosen to chase wild horses with helicopters in the dead of winter when all wildlife survival hangs by a thread. Stress on these animals is intense. On at least one occasion the wild horses were not even given water as they stood overnight in a crowded capture corral. Then, they are separated from their families and trucked four hours to a feedlot style facility and fed hay. Even BLM admits that deaths are occurring because the horses cannot adjust to this new diet.”

Rather than responding to the public demands that the “government sponsored and taxpayer funded cruelty” halt immediately, BLM digs their heels in deeper—continuing to remove every horse they can find in the remote half million acre Calico Mountain complex—home to mustangs for over 500 years, far longer than the privately-owned cattle that outnumber wild horses at least 100 to one on public lands. “By appointment only” public access has been limited to ten people for 3 half-days per week. Gardner is among many who have been setting aside their own daily responsibilities to watch out for America’s wild horses as best she can. Access has been limited compared with the round up of Cloud’s Herd in the Pryor Mountains which Gardner observed in September 2009. The BLM now restricts access to viewing from 75 yards away as well as insisting they sign a “ground rules” waiver.

“Just yesterday they shot a mare after she was kicked in the head. Another stallion broke his neck; foals are loosing their hooves after being chased by these helicopters for miles over rough rocky, snowy ground. And trying to even get the facts from BLM, let alone get close enough to monitor these horses is next to impossible,” says Gardner.

BLM Wild Horse and Burro program Chief Don Glenn broke his promise to allow the public to ‘watch any roundup, anytime’, (video: http://bit.ly/aXK1Au). The public has not been allowed to observe a roundup in full since his statement to the public at the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory meeting on December 7th in Reno, Nevada.

Despite receiving well over 100,000 phone calls and written demands, public protests in over 18 US cities, worldwide media coverage and pressure from over 150 organizations and celebrities such as Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Ed Harris, Lily Tomlin and Bill Maher, the BLM continues the roundups which are costing the wild horses their lives and the taxpayer millions of dollars at a time of national financial insecurity.

“This is an enormous, unsupported expenditure of taxpayer money benefiting special interests and destroying America's wild horse and burro herds. Stopping the round ups now would be a win-win. The wild horses win and the taxpayers win.” explains Kathrens, adding “The only losers would be the roundup contractors, who make multi-millions and the corporate ranchers who run cattle in outrageous numbers on public lands costing the public a minimum of $123 million a year.”

The American public is calling for Congressional hearings and an immediate investigation of the BLM Wild Horse and Burro program that even Secretary Salazar, describes as unsustainable. BLM appears to be afraid of the potential passage of the ROAM (Restore Our American Mustangs Act, §1579) that passed the House and is now in the Senate. Secretary Salazar has proposed an expensive and absurd plan to move and warehouse 26,000 wild horses to pastures in the Midwest and East thus removing even more wild horses from the pitiful 4% of public lands they are currently allowed to roam. Meanwhile, more than 4 million head of corporate and privately owned cattle graze on the wild horses’ limited acres of public lands.

The BLM currently spends half its $69 million budget removing wild horses from their designated public lands and the other half feeding and warehousing the over 34,000 mustangs already removed from the wild. Their program is currently non-sustainable with over 12,000 wild horses and burros being removed in fiscal year 2010 while fewer than15,000 likely remain in the wild. Fewer than 3000 mustangs are projected to be adopted in 2010. More herds are reduced to non-viable levels, which are then often zeroed out completely despite excellent rangeland and horse health. Advocates are concerned the Obama administration’s “New Energy Frontier” is forcing the wild horses off their land in the West. The BLM plans to roundup 595 more Nevada mustangs off the Eagle Herd Management Area next, leaving only 100 horses on an area the size of Rhode Island yet allowing over 2700 head of cattle to remain.

"I'm asking President Obama and Senator Reid to stop the Calico roundup of the American wild mustangs in Nevada NOW until Congress decides how to manage our living legends of the West"—Sheryl Crow, GRAMMY® award-winning singer/songwriter.

# # #

Links of interest:

Humane Observer blog http://humaneobserver.blogspot.com/

Good Morning America at Calico http://bit.ly/bXtwd5

New York Times “Horses Die in Roundup” http://nyti.ms/atZqF5

Feds Deny Gas Pipeline Related to Wild Horse Roundup http://bit.ly/buLfh5 <http://bit.ly/buLfh5>

Ruby Pipeline press release http://bit.ly/c4pfOA

Don Glenn “welcome to the roundups” video clip http://bit.ly/aXK1Au

Wild Horse Emergency PSA with Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortenson http://vimeo.com/8441353

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration's wild-horse plan (Associated Press)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
- A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010
http://bit.ly/5AmMLm

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
719-351-8187
makendra@thecloudfoundation..org <mailto:makendra@thecloudfoundation.org>

Anne Novak
415-531-8454

anne@thecloudfoundation.org <x-msg://307/%22mailto:>

For Immediate Release

Captured Calico Wild Horses Denied Windbreaks

BLM’s double-standards leave nearly 1000 captured mustangs in the cold

Fallon, NV (January 19, 2010)— 956 wild American mustangs rounded up off public land by helicopters in the past two weeks now stand in a feedlot-style Bureau of Land Management (BLM) contracted holding facility outside of Fallon, Nevada on private land. The new Fallon facility is not equipped with shelter, windbreaks or protection of any kind for the horses. High winds, rain and snow are expected to continue through the end of the week. In Calico, herds can move to sheltered canyons for protection from the harsh winter weather. Yet, in Fallon, they are deprived of adequate protection despite recommendations from wild horse advocates. This is in direct opposition to BLM’s own standards.

“I’m confused by the double standard. Before members of the public are allowed to adopt a wild horse from BLM we must prove we have adequate shelter. Why doesn’t BLM have to meet the same standards?” asks Ann Evans, adopter of three mustangs.

Yesterday, members of the public reported an inhumane lack of windbreaks. No apparent effort has been made to tie canvas tarps on fences to block the howling wind and the anticipated driving snow. On Friday January 15, advocates asked local Nevada BLM staff, Directors and top-level Department of Interior (DOI) under-secretaries to intervene on behalf of the horses by creating wind blocks.

"Those that care about the welfare of the wild horses or burros are asking for minimal protection for these vulnerable animals. Wild horse families are being ripped out of their natural environment where they can take care of themselves, separated from their family members and incarcerated on a windswept plain outside Fallon where they have no ability to protect themselves from the elements. BLM then tells the public their actions are for the good of the animals,” states Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation (named for the famous wild horse Kathrens has documented for the PBS/Nature series)

The DOI and BLM responded that at the just constructed Fallon facility “weather is not that extreme to require wind breaks for healthy horses. . . they do not require protection from the elements to maintain good health. . . .there is nothing to be concerned about from an animal well-being standpoint.” Thus, no actions to protect the captured horses have taken place, not even for foals or sick horses. Advocates contend that the horses are more prone to strangles (equine distemper) due to the lack of adequate protection.

“When these horses were rounded up, some where limping and wet with sweat. They are now terribly traumatized, depressed and confused. Their immune systems are compromised, making them more vulnerable to illness, like strangles (equine distemper) and death,” explains Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist, third generation Nevada native, and witness to the Calico roundup.

“BLM continually tells the public and the media that the wild horses are starving and must be removed from the range. Yet, the BLM provides them with no shelter in dangerous weather conditions where the horses will burn fat reserves attempting to keep warm. No reputable rescue would place any horses in a situation like Fallon,” stated Hilary Wood, President and Founder of Front Range Equine Rescue.

When asked about the lack of windbreaks the BLM indicated that the contractor who built the facility was not asked to provide any shelters or windbreaks. BLM zeroed out a portion of the Dishpan Butte wild horse herd in Wyoming solely on the basis that the wild horses did not have cover according to BLM Program Chief Don Glenn.

“We owe so much to these mustangs—it’s a dishonor that our government does not provide wind protection from the harsh elements,” said Elyse Gardner, humane observer, Calico and Pryor Mountains roundups
The Cloud Foundation and the public call on Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, to stop the Calico roundup and take immediate action against the cruelty and mismanagement of the BLM's wild horse and burro program. Canvas tarps are affordable and readily available at various outlets in the Reno/Fallon area.

###

Photos of the Calico wild horses, along with video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation - news@thecloudfoundation.org <mailto:news@thecloudfoundation.org> - 719-633-3842

Links of interest:

Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow Cry out for Wild Horses http://bit.ly/6UYGRw

Is the Ruby Pipeline the Smoking Gun? Roundups for Pipeline?
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/258-ruby1 <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/258-ruby1>

Ruby Pipeline Information
http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration's wild-horse plan (Associated Press, Jan. 10)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO <http://bit.ly/6UQleO>

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Video Overview of Calico horses and current roundup <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU>

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L <http://bit.ly/6ck87L>

The Cloud Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization based in Colorado Springs, Colorado and dedicated to the protection and preservation of wild horses and burros on our public lands, with a specific focus on Cloud’s herd in the Pryor Mountains of Montana.
The Cloud Foundation ~ 107 S 7th St. Colorado Springs, Colorado 8095 ~ 719-633-3842 ~ www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel. 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

Environmental Group Joins Hunting Lobby in Government Sponsored Assault on Nevada’s Mustangs

What fuels the alliance?

Colorado Springs, CO (January 17, 2010)—During today’s protest in New York City, The Cloud Foundation asks why has the Nevada Sierra Club joined in a bizarre alliance with the powerful international trophy-hunting lobby, Safari Club International <http://www.scifirstforhunters.org/content/index.cfm?action=view&content_id=109> (SCI), whose work to lift hunting bans worldwide often diminishes protections for wildlife. In announcing their support for the current inhumane and costly removal of 80-90% of the Calico wild horses in Northern Nevada, The Sierra Club spokesperson has failed to acknowledge that the essential cause of degradation of public lands is livestock use—not wild horses. One must ask: why the alliance? Is it forged on more than livestock? Are there energy moguls making deals behind the scenes?

Upon accepting the position as Secretary of Interior Salazar announced, “I look forward to helping build our clean energy economy, modernize our interstate electrical grid, and ensure that we are making wise use of our conventional natural resources, including coal, oil, and natural gas.”

The Safari Club sung praises for Obama’s appointment of Salazar for Secretary of the Department of Interior. Obviously the powerful SCI lobby has been actively backing Salazar for a long time.

“Senator Salazar’s pro-hunting votes over the past four years in Washington, and his support for access to federal lands for hunting throughout his entire career in Colorado will prove to be invaluable for sportsmen and women during this Administration” said SCI President Merle Shepard continuing with “SCI looks forward to working with Senator Salazar in the Obama Administration to make sure the hunter’s voice is heard on every issue that affects hunting, hunters or science-based wildlife management.”

The half-million acre Calico Complex herd management area is the last stronghold of the American mustang and was designated by Congress principally for the use of wild horses and burros.

Scapegoating wild horses and burros for range deterioration must stop—they comprise only a tiny fraction of the animals and grazing wildlife on our public lands. Millions of head of livestock graze public lands at a cost of $1.35/cow-calf pair/month. Overall public lands grazing constitutes a net loss of $123 million annually to the American tax payer following administrative costs while economists estimate the total damage at $500 million to $1 billion annually.

Cows graze within a mile of water; in comparison, wild horses are highly mobile, moving 5-10 miles from water and grazing on more rugged terrain. The BLM has failed to sustainably balance use of the "forage," water, and space through adequate control of cattle on public land. Not only do cows eat more than 26lbs. of forage daily, but they consume as much as 30 gallons of water a day and defecate in it as well. Private and corporate livestock outnumber wild horses at least 100 to 1 on public lands.

"North America’s “green” wild horses are a return-native prey species beautifully integrated with their environment, as opposed to resource-damaging exotic livestock. We are advocating for the preservation of entire ecosystems in which the wild horse plays a vital role," states Ginger Kathrens, Naturalist and Emmy-award winning filmmaker and creator of the popular PBS Cloud Wild Horse Documentaries.

Responding to the Sierra Club’s statement that arid rangelands can't produce enough food for wild horses, Kathrens continues, “It doesn’t square to say that the range can’t support a few thousand “green” wild horses and yet can support millions of head of destructive domestic livestock.”

In January 2008 Western Watersheds filed a court appeal against the new and BLM approved grazing proposal for Nevada’s Soldier Meadows allotment.. Testimony on May 13, 2009 from Glenna Eckel, BLM’s Winnemucca Wild Horse & Burro Specialist, explained that she was surprised at the number of horses after a fly-over because the large population was not showing up in relation to their forage consumption.

BLM never balanced their new information on science and forage on the Calico wild horse herd.. Yet the BLM moves forward regardless with the dead of winter roundup. Was it because the Ruby Project reported to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that BLM had said they would roundup horses for the gas line?

“BLM increased the cow numbers. They misled the public about the horse numbers so they could increase the big rancher’s cattle and the amount of grass the cows could eat on public land. Then, when their own expert testified about the relative effect of the horses—BLM ignored that too. Now they are trying to do damage control to cover it all up. So from my perspective as a wildlife advocate—BLM took grass away from wildlife, and scapegoated the horses to cover it all up,” explained Katie Fite biologist and biodiversity specialist adding, “We need an investigation to get at the truth here.”

The Cloud Foundation and over 195 organizations, ecologists, authors and celebrities (Sheryl Crow, Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Lily Tomlin and more) have called on President Obama to support federal grazing permit buybacks. The Unified Moratorium letter calls for reductions in livestock grazing and a subsequent reanalysis of appropriate management levels <http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/prog/wh_b/appropriate_management.html> for herd management areas to allow for self-sustaining, genetically viable wild horse and burro herds to exist in the West.

# # #

Links of interest:

NYC Protest Mustang Removals on the Ruby Pipeline Path
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/268-wild-horse-protest-sunday-in-new-york-city-11510

Is the Ruby Pipeline the Smoking Gun? Roundups for Pipeline?
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-releases/258-ruby1

Associated Press: Sierra Club Supports Mustang Roundup in NV http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/81885542.html <http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/81885542.html>

Glenna Eckle Testimony
http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/Glenna_Eckel_Testimony_May_2009.pdf

Western Watersheds Project
http://www.westernwatersheds.org/

Ruby Pipeline Creates Infrastructure, Industry & has Harmful Environmental Impacts
http://www..standard.net/topics/business/2010/01/11/ruby-pipeline-could-start-soon-may

Ruby Pipeline Information
http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html

Wyoming Tribune Article on Ruby Pipeline http://bit.ly/5o0EXn <http://bit.ly/5o0EXn>

Pipeline Map:
http://www.rubypipeline..com/docs/Ruby%20Overview%20Map.pdf

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration's wild-horse plan (Associated Press, Jan. 10)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Video Overview of Calico horses and current roundup <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

Media Contacts:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

Dances with Wolves Author & Cloud Filmmaker Speak on Wild Horses in Tucson

Arizona Horse Expo lands hot topic—stories and reasons to save our living legends in the West.

Tucson, AZ (January 15, 2010)—Oscar-winning writer of Dances with Wolves, Michael Blake, and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker and producer of the PBS Cloud : Wild Stallion of the Rockies programs Ginger Kathrens will speak about mustangs at the Arizona Horse Expo on at 12:30- 1:30pm on both January 16 and 17th in Tucson, Arizona (cost $10 presales, $15 day of). The public and interested media are invited to join these two noted speakers for what is sure to be an entertaining and informative presentation about wild horses in the American West.

"Michael and I both have personal stories, long histories and connections with wild horses. At no time in our collective journeys can we recall this sort of massive public outcry to keep these animals on their western lands” explains Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. “The clock is ticking. We must stop BLM's fast tracked roundups and urge Congress to investigate the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro program with an eye on the Ruby Pipeline and other public land heists."

“Americans need to stand up strongly to save what's left of our Wild Horses. We no longer have millions. The removal forever of the animals that played a key role in allowing America to be settled by humanity is not only wrong...it is done with criminality that also needs to be stopped immediately. Essential elements of the current government cares nothing about the people they represent,” states Michael Blake adding that, “the BLM and the Secretary of the Interior should be in court ...defending themselves. Stop them now America.”

Blake’s new book, Twelve, the King tells the story of one-captured wild stallion from Nevada. Kathrens’ new film and companion book, Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions, continues the 14-year documentation of a wild stallion in Montana.
Both Blake and Kathrens are committed to protecting the American wild mustang in the West.

To schedule an interview please contact Makendra at 719-351-8187.

###

Links of interest:

AZ Horse Expo information
http://bit.ly/5pPvI8

Ginger Kathrens, The Cloud Foundation
http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/about-us/board-of-directors

Michael Blake, author site
http://www.danceswithwolves.net/bio.php

Ruby Pipeline Information
(http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html> )

http://www.trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_ba4c941a-cded-51bf-a33c-c9a84de2a181.html <http://www.trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_ba4c941a-cded-51bf-a33c-c9a84de2a181.html>

http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/citizen-guides/citz-guide-gas.pdf <http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/citizen-guides/citz-guide-gas.pdf>

Pipeline Map:
http://www.rubypipeline.com/docs/Ruby%20Overview%20Map.pdf

Western Watersheds Project
http://www.westernwatersheds.org/ <http://www.westernwatersheds..org/>

American Herds
http://americanherds.blogspot.com/ <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/>

Freedom’s Escape & Roundup Report: http://humanitythrougheducation.com/ <http://humanitythrougheducation.com/>

12.28.09 USA Today: “Activists Decry Wild-Horse Roundups <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm> ”
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm>

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html>

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contact:

Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

Anne Novak
Anne@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 415-531-8454

For Immediate Release

Wild Horse Protests Follow the Money to New York City

Advocates protest BLM’s wild horse removals on the Ruby Pipeline path

New York City, NY (January 14, 2010)—Wild horse and burro advocates demand immediate investigations of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro program as well as a moratorium on roundups, until sustainable management practices are implemented to protect the American wild horses in the West. Protesters will gather on Sunday, January 17 from 1 P.M. to 3 P.M. at Columbus Circle (59th St at Central Park S). The press conference will be held at 2 P.M. The public objects to BLM’s removal of wild horses for fast tracked energy deals on public land in the West, such as the Ruby Pipeline, and objects to schemes to subsidize corporate welfare ranchers.

“The Roundups must stop. The destruction of public land must stop. Government agencies and private corporations must be held accountable and must safeguard wildlife—not eliminate it,” says Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director, The Cloud Foundation (named for the famous wild horse Kathrens has documented for the PBS/Nature series)

Members of the public are furious that the BLM continues roundups despite Federal D.C. District Court Judge Paul Friedman’s recommendation that BLM postpone Calico until the issue of out of state transport and long term holding can be decided.

The ROAM (Restore Our American Mustangs Act, §1579 ) is in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee, awaiting urgently needed hearings. The House passed the bill in July 2009.

The Cloud Foundation (TCF) broke the Ruby Pipeline story on January 7. The Foundation asks the BLM to reveal the truth behind the removals of healthy wild horses from the Nevada Calico Complex that BLM claims will starve if left in their natural sagebrush ecosystem.

Outraged at the BLM for clearing wild horses from the Ruby Pipeline path, advocates and the public from across the country are joining together in NYC to demand President Obama call a moratorium on all roundups, including Calico, and demand that the FERC delay the approval of the Ruby Pipeline until Congress investigates the BLM.

“The roundups in the Ruby Pipeline zone are questionable,” states Katie Fite, biologist and biodiversity specialist for Western Watersheds. “The public is not being told the truth. There needs to be an investigation within all levels of BLM considering the unavoidable damage to our public lands. There is no mitigation provided for to restore this biologically wild, remote, and untrammeled landscape in northwestern Nevada and southeastern Oregon.”

According to a Western Watersheds report this is the largest project of its type across significant public lands in the American West in recent memory. Ruby has seized upon a sliver of ecologically critical unprotected public wild land to punch a new corridor through, and bisect this irreplaceable landscape,including many of the last viable herds of wild horses in the West.

Instead of the truth, the BLM tells the public wild horses are being removed because they are starving or destroying the ecosystem. Independent video footage and photographs tell a very different story. Following public outcry over the starving comments, the BLM is now switching gears—saying they want to “prevent the horses from starving” and therefore they are removing 80-90% of the horses. Today their spin attempts to sway the public with a trendy ‘sustainable’ pitch and tell the public the wild horses have no predators—not true.

“Wild horses have predators,” states Ginger Kathrens. “But, the government kills them on public lands to protect welfare cattle.”
The NYC event is a collaborative effort started by local organizer and mustang-adopter, Jo De George, with support from The Cloud Foundation, Equine Welfare Alliance, Return to Freedom, In Defense of Animals and 40 more coalition members of the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign.

"America's public lands are owned by the public, whether they live in New York City or elsewhere. We like to know that outside this city, way out West, herds of wild horses are roaming free. These horses symbolize the essence of our country," explained Jo De George, NYC Protest Organizer and volunteer with The Cloud Foundation and Equine Welfare Alliance.

BLM has already reported four horse deaths (adults and babies) from the current Calico roundup on the Ruby Pipeline route. The public and media have only been allowed to observe the roundup to a limited degree—concerns are circulating regarding unreported deaths and abuses.

Wild horse backers are organizing nationwide to stop taxpayer-funded mismanagement of America’s wild herds. BLM’s hidden agenda is unraveling with the Ruby Pipeline and other public land heists in the West. Their lack of respect towards legendary ecosystems outweighs their double talk about ‘balance’.

“If BLM cares so much about the ecological balance, it would not be enabling the Ruby gas pipeline to rip the public wild lands and watersheds here apart,” says Fite adding, “The horses, sage-grouse, antelope and everything else are caught in the crosshairs of BLM selling out the public lands that belong to all Americans—to ranchers and big energy interests.”

The BLM currently spends half its $69 million budget removing wild horses from their designated public lands and the other half feeding and warehousing the over 34,000 mustangs already removed from the wild, primarily during the last Bush administration. Their program is currently non-sustainable with 12,000 wild horses and burros being removed in fiscal year 2010 and as few as 15,000 remaining in the wild. Likely only 3000 mustangs will be adopted as more herds are reduced to non-viable levels, which are then often zeroed out completely despite excellent rangeland and horse health.

"Yes, there is climate change – but do we destroy the West to ‘save’ the planet? NO – because then you just make the problem worse," states Katie Fite, Biodiversity Specialist, Western Watersheds Project

# # #

Links of interest:

Ruby Pipeline Creates Infrastructure, Industry & has Harmful Environmental Impacts
http://www.standard.net/topics/business/2010/01/11/ruby-pipeline-could-start-soon-may

Ruby Pipeline Information
http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html>

Wyoming Tribune Article on Ruby Pipeline http://bit.ly/5o0EXn <http://bit.ly/5o0EXn>

Pipeline Map:

http://www.rubypipeline.com/docs/Ruby%20Overview%20Map.pdf <http://www..rubypipeline.com/docs/Ruby%20Overview%20Map.pdf>

Western Watersheds Project
http://www.westernwatersheds.org/ <http://www.westernwatersheds.org/>

After campaigning for Obama, Sheryl Crow at odds over his administration's wild-horse plan (Associated Press, Jan. 10)
http://bit.ly/6UQleO

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses
- A History
http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html <http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html>

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Video Overview of Calico horses and current roundup <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses
(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories
http://bit.ly/6ck87L

Roundup Schedule- updated January 11, 2010
http://bit.ly/5AmMLm

Photos, video and interviews available from:
The Cloud Foundation
news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

#####

Media Contact:
Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

For Immediate Release

Activists Ask Senator Udall to Investigate BLM’s Removal of Wild Horses in Ruby Pipeline Zone

Denver protesters request an immediate moratorium on roundups

Denver, CO (January 7, 2010) —Chants of “Wild ‘N Free—Let ‘Em Be” echoed through Downtown Denver today as close to 50 members of the wild horse loving public protested outside Senator Mark Udall’s Office to stop the roundups. Despite single-digit temperatures, protesters came from as far as three hours away. Mustang advocates met with the Senator’s staff following the protest to discuss the wild horse crisis as well as what may be the smoking gun behind these roundups—a massive natural gas pipeline from Wyoming, through Nevada to southern Oregon.

“We are asking Senator Udall and his colleagues to investigate the BLM’s dealings with the Ruby pipeline with an eye on the wild horse crisis,” said Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director, The Cloud Foundation and Emmy-Award winning filmmaker.

Protests also took place today in Albany. NY and Las Vegas. An all-day Boston protest at the Massachusetts Sate House is scheduled for January 8 and another Las Vegas protest on Sunday. A large protest is planned for New York City on January 17th.

“Protesters are calling for a moratorium on all roundups until a truly sustainable plan is in place—one that protects our legendary wild herds in the West,” explained Makendra Silverman, Associate Director, The Cloud Foundation,

#####

Media Contact:
Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

For Immediate Release

The Real Reason Behind BLM’s Push to Remove Wild Horses:
Is Ruby Pipeline the Smoking Gun?

Wild horse advocates rally in Denver to stop roundups, ask Senator Udall for help in BLM investigation

Denver, CO (January 7, 2010)—The Cloud Foundation asks the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to reveal the truth behind removing healthy wild horses from the Calico Complex of northwestern Nevada. It does not appear to be coincidental that the multi-billion dollar corporate project, the Ruby Pipeline, would run through the Calico Complex—site of the controversial roundup of more than 2,500 mustangs and the Buckhorn Wild Horse Herd Management Area. BLM removed over 200 wild horses at Buckhorn in December 2009 without public notice.

Director of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has told members of the public that the horses will starve if not removed because there is nothing for them to eat. The Director of the BLM, Bob Abbey, also supported Salazar’s claim when he stated this week that horses are being removed “to restore an ecological balance” even though this claim is nullified by numerous experts including a biodiversity science specialist with 8 years experience in the range and the sworn testimony of BLM employees Eckel and Drake. Abbey went on to reassert the BLM policy position that “we will need to continue removing excess wild horses from the public rangelands in areas where the land can no longer support them.”

Yet, documents recently received by The Cloud Foundation from biologist Katie Fite of Western Watersheds <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/> and researcher Cindy MacDonald (publisher of the American Herds blog <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/> ) today expose what may be the real reasons behind the massive, dead of winter wild horse roundups—and they have nothing to do with horse or rangeland health—but may have everything to do with the Ruby Pipeline.

In a written response to questions posed by the Office of Energy Projects (an agency within the Department of Energy), a Ruby natural gas pipeline project consultant, Dan Gredvig, stated that “Ruby will work with BLM to minimize wild horse and burro grazing along the restored ROW (right-of-way) for three years. Possible management actions would be to . . . reduce wild horse populations following BLM policy in appropriate management areas. BLM wild horse and burro specialists were consulted in developing this management approach.” The document is dated February 23, 2009.

It appears that the public’s wild horses are being removed at taxpayer expense on publicly owned land to make way for a multi-billion dollar pipeline constructed by El Paso Natural Gas Corporation of Colorado Springs, CO. Natural gas and water would ultimately provide added resources to California and other destinations. Given these new revelations, the public has the right to ask several key questions and get immediate answers to them: 1) Who really stands to profit from removing wild horses from public lands? 2) What private contractors, possible politicians, and/or agency bureaucrats stand to benefit from the yet undisclosed details of the Ruby Project? 3) Why has the public been excluded from any discussion of this undisclosed use of taxpayer public lands?

“I don’t think it is out of line to seek immediate responses to these questions. The public has a right to know what is happening to their public lands and to the future of their wild horses, especially when it comes at taxpayer expense..” Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director, The Cloud Foundation (named for the famous wild horse Kathrens has documented for the PBS/Nature series).

According to a Western Watersheds report this is the largest project of its type across significant public lands in the American West in recent memory. Ruby has seized upon a sliver of ecologically critical unprotected public wild land to punch a new corridor through, and bisect this irreplaceable landscape, including many of the last viable herds of wild horses in the West.

“The roundups in the Ruby Pipeline zone are questionable,” states Katie Fite, biologist and biodiversity specialist. “The public is not being told the truth. There needs to be an investigation within all levels of BLM considering the unavoidable damage to our public lands. There is no mitigation provided for to restore this biologically wild, remote, and untrammeled landscape in northwestern Nevada and southeastern Oregon.”

Wild horse advocates and concerned Colorado citizens will be gathering to protest in downtown Denver on Thursday January 7 from 12:00-2:00pm in front of Senator Mark Udall’s office building (999 Eighteenth Street, North Tower). Kathrens will address the crowd and press at noon. The group will be asking the Senator to help halt the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) massive roundup of wild horses currently living in the half million acre Calico Mountain Complex area in NW Nevada.

“We are standing up today for the American mustang. Senator Udall’s uncle, Stewart Udall, was responsible for saving Cloud’s herd in Montana back in 1968, when the BLM threatened their destruction. We ask Senator Udall to follow in his uncle's footsteps to protect the last of the mustangs.”—Makendra Silverman, Associate Director, The Cloud Foundation

###

Links of interest:

Ruby Pipeline Information

(http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html)

http://www.trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_ba4c941a-cded-51bf-a33c-c9a84de2a181.html

http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/citizen-guides/citz-guide-gas.pdf

Pipeline Map:

http://www.rubypipeline.com/docs/Ruby%20Overview%20Map.pdf

Western Watersheds Project

http://www.westernwatersheds.org/

American Herds

http://americanherds.blogspot.com/

Freedom’s Escape & Roundup Report: http://humanitythrougheducation.com/

Video Overview of Calico horses and current roundup <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU

12.28.09 USA Today: “Activists Decry Wild-Horse Roundups <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm> ”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.
America’s Disappearing Wild Horses

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225)

Updated 2009-2010 Roundup Schedule

http://thecloudfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/roundupschedule2010_3pp.pdf

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories

(http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/action-alerts/207-moratorium-letter-to-president-obama-and-secretary-salazar)

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

Media Contact:
Makendra Silverman
Makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
Tel: 719-351-8187

For Immediate Release

Icon of Freedom—Wild Black Stallion Escapes BLM Capture

Winnemucca, NV (January 6, 2010)—Today the Cloud Foundation honors the Calico wild stallion, named “Freedom” —an inspiration to mustang roundup protestors worldwide. On January 2nd Freedom escaped Bureau of Land Management (BLM capture) by fighting his way out of the roundup corrals, jumping a six-foot fence, and smashing through a barbed wire fence to run fee again in the wild. A storm of protests is growing following on the heels of Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago and Ketchum Idaho last week with more planned in Los Angeles and Lexington today, Denver and Albany, NY on Thursday, Boston on Friday and Las Vegas on Sunday. Protests in New York City, London, Santa Barbara, Toronto and Rome are being planned.

Still photos and the corresponding report from Elyse Gardner, humane observer, with ecologist Craig Downer document Freedom’s capture as well as his escape and are available on line. Link here <http://humanitythrougheducation.com/> .

“This was an awe-inspiring, do-or-die effort demonstrating the wild horse’s loathing of captivity and his primal need for freedom,” said Craig Downer, Nevada Wildlife Ecologist.

"This wild stallion's defiance calls us to back him up by telling Congress we refuse to have such actions done in our names,” says Terri Farley, celebrated children’s author of the Phantom Stallion series. "Congress must attach strings to BLM's budget so that the Bureau is forced to cowboy up and admit our remaining mustangs are not responsible for the damage to the range."

The Cloud Foundation with 190 other organizations, celebrities and scientists joined by thousands of members of the public from coast-to-coast have called on the President to stop this high-jacking of our American mustangs by a rogue government agency.

“Freedom’s escape has rallied horse advocates across the globe,” says Lise Stampfli Torme, a San Francisco Bay Area Mustang backer adding, “His example is a lesson in values. Just as Freedom has boldly fought for liberty, we will continue to fight the BLM’s outrageous and inhumane roundups as well as their broken range management system that favors ranchers and other commercial interests, placing them above the law and the will of the American people. This must stop. The People's horses must remain wild and free.”

Despite their federally protected status on legally designated ranges, and an Act of Congress that states the lands on which they roam should be managed “principally” for their use, the Bureau of Land Management is continuing the roundup in Calico. The agency expects to remove more than 2,500 wild horses from Nevada’s last wild horse stronghold—the Calico Mountains.

Wild horse advocates assert that BLM is rushing to roundup 12,000 wild horses and burros based on faulty census figures and what may be a deal made with the builders of a massive natural gas pipeline project—the Ruby Pipeline <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html> . Even BLM personnel have said that the Calico wild horses are not impacting the range as expected, despite their numbers exceeding what they (BLM) term “appropriate management levels.“ Cloud Foundation and other mustang and burro advocates dispute the BLM horse levels citing an internal system that is deeply flawed, arbitrary and indiscriminately applied without benefit of proper environmental review. (Full report and link to testimony online here <http://americanherds.blogspot.com/> ).

“The BLM is spending more than $30 million dollars to quickly eradicate an irreplaceable piece of American living history. I ask myself, what’s the rush? Is it only pressure from ranchers? Does the BLM fear the ROAM Act will pass? Is it to clear the land for the Ruby Pipeline project, or is it something else?” asks Ginger Kathrens, Executive Director, The Cloud Foundation.

President Obama continues to stonewall on the issue, with only a “no comment” from his spokesperson following months of requests from the American public for his intervention.

###

Links of interest:

Freedom’s Escape & Roundup Report: http://humanitythrougheducation.com/ <x-msg://970/%22http://humani>

Video Overview of Calico horses and current roundup <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-0OK3i1YFI&feature=channel

Video Footage of Calico Roundup <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU <http://www.youtube..com/watch?v=gl0keG49kQU>

12.28.09 USA Today: “Activists Decry Wild-Horse Roundups <x-msg://970/%22http://www.usatoday.com/news/> ”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-12-28-horses_N.htm

Mestengo. Mustang. Misfit.

America’s Disappearing Wild Horses

http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/resources/wild.html

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html <x-msg://970/%22http://www.wildmus> )

Ruby Pipeline Information

(http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html <http://americanherds..blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html> )

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now (http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225 <http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225> )

Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist: interview Nevada roundup <http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/interview-with-craig-downer-wildlife-ecologist/> (http://vimeo.com/7135462)

Crunching Calico- An American Herds Report

(http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html)

Updated 2009-2010 Roundup Schedule

http://thecloudfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/roundupschedule2010_3pp.pdf

Unified Moratorium letter and signatories

(http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/action-alerts/207-moratorium-letter-to-president-obama-and-secretary-salazar)

Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971

(http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/news/resources/216-whbact <x-msg://970/%22http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/news/resourc> )

Photos, video and interviews available from:

The Cloud Foundation news@thecloudfoundation.org
www.thecloudfoundation.org <http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/>

###

Media Contact: Makendra Silverman,
makendra@TheCloudFoundation.org
719-633-3842

For Immediate Release

Sheryl Crow Asks President Obama & Secretary Salazar to Stop the Assault on America’s Wild Horses and Burros

Actors Ed Harris, Wendie Malick, and Over 100 Organizations Demand Roundup Moratorium, Protesting Nevada’s Calico Complex Roundup to begin December 1

COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. (November 20, 2009)—Sheryl Crow speaks out for the wild horses and burros on America’s public lands in the west. The multi-GRAMMY®-winning singer-songwriter and mustang owner joins The Cloud Foundation, over 130 organizations, scientists, authors and celebrity supporters calling on President Obama, Members of Congress and the Department of Interior to place an immediate moratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups until a long-term and humane policy to manage the animals is developed.

“With one voice we are insisting that our government stop managing these beautiful and important animals to extinction” —Sheryl Crow

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) removal plan for Nevada’s Calico Complex wild mustangs is fueling outrage across the country and internationally. In a unified sign-on letter (full text below), wild horse supporters outline their opposition to the Obama Administration's October 7, 2009 announcement (http://www.doi.gov/news/09_News_Releases/100709.html) regarding the management of wild horses and burros. Groups oppose moving 26,000 wild horses to purchased lands in the east and the current government practice of removing entire wild horse and burros herds from public lands specifically designated for the animals by Congress in 1971.

“We ask that President Obama or Secretary Salazar cease all BLM roundups as of this date to prevent further suffering. We request that the government and BLM begin to work in good faith with wild horse advocates for a sustainable solution. The Calico Roundup, scheduled to begin in December and continue through the dead of winter, is inhumane and must be stopped!” —Sheryl Crow

Upon hearing about the BLM’s plans for the large-scale removal of 2,500 horses in northwest Nevada near the Black Rock Desert, more than seven thousand citizens submitted public comments to the BLM opposing the Calico Mountain Complex Round Up, scheduled to begin on December 1, 2009. Public comment has been extended through November 22, 2009 according to the BLM.

Currently more than 33,000 wild horses are stockpiled in government holding facilities at a cost to taxpayers of $100,000 a day. The scheduled removal of 2,500 from Nevada will bring that total to more than 35,000.

“We already have enough wild horses in pens. Adding more horses to those already held in confinement, when they are much safer on the range is shortsighted, inhumane and fiscally irresponsible.”—Ginger Kathrens, Emmy Award Filmmaker & Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation.

The BLM will pay the private contractor $610 per horse rounded up for an estimated total of nearly $2 million for the Calico roundup alone according to BLM spokesperson, Tom Gorey. Branding, vaccinating, sterilizing and processing of horses to be placed in government holding will cost several million more. The BLM hired the same contractor for the controversial roundup of the famous stallion, Cloud, and his Pryor Mountain herd in September, 2009. Bands including two-month-old foals were chased down off the mountaintop by helicopter for 10-15 miles in more than 90 degree heat resulting in trauma and lameness. (http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/youtube-videos/146-lamefoal)

"The government is acting in defiance of the spirit and intent of the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act which Congress passed unanimously —Julianne French, wild horse advocate. (http://www.wildhorseandburro.blm.gov/92-195.htm)

The 1971 Act preserves wild horses and burros in over 300 areas of publicly owned rangeland in the west, forbidding their exploitation, harassment and removal. Regardless, only 30 million acres remain of the 54 million acres designated primarily for wild horse use in 1971. Over 100 herds have been completely removed by the BLM and most remaining herds are too small to insure their long-term survival. The BLM's current policy of eradicating these herds is a betrayal of the wishes of the American public.

Sheryl Crow, with wild mustang and burro supporters, calls the public to action urging all to come to the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Public Advisory Board meeting on December 7^th in Reno, Nevada and to write, e-mail, fax and phone Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, their congressional representatives and President Obama. The list of contact phones, e-mails, faxes and mailing addresses is online here. (http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/action-alerts/198-government-contacts)

“Its time for all of us to speak up for our Wild Horses and Burros so we do not lose these living legends and inspiring symbols of our freedom in America.”

—Sheryl Crow

Photos and video available from:

The Cloud Foundation

news@thecloudfoundation.org

719-633-3842 or 719-351-8187

Spokesperson:

The Cloud Foundation: Ginger Kathrens 719-633-3842 ginger@thecloudfoundation.org

For Dates, Directions & Information on Attending a Roundup please contact:

The Cloud Foundation

Don Glenn

Chief, BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program

don_glenn@blm.gov

202-452- 5082

Media and the public are encouraged to attend the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Public Advisory Board meeting on December 7^th in Reno, Nevada.

http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2009/november/NR_11_12_2009.html

Supporting Documents/links

Sheryl Crow Joins in Wild Horse Fight

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-nLYNPACd0&NR=1)

Stampede to Oblivion: An Investigate Report from Las Vegas Now

(http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11285225)

Craig Downer, wildlife ecologist: interview on upcoming Nevada roundup (http://vimeo.com/7135462)

Public lands grazing fiscal costs report from Wild Earth Guardians

(http://www.sagebrushsea.org/pdf/factsheet_Grazing_Fiscal_Costs.pdf)

Managing Wild Equids On Public Lands: A response to the DOI Plan (TCF) (http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/press-release)

Environmental Assessment on proposed Calico Complex Gather

(http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/wfo/blm_information/nepa0/wild_horse_and_burro/Calico.html)

American Herds report “Crunching Calico”

(http://americanherds.blogspot.com/2009/11/crunching-calico.html)

The BLM’s Wild Horse Numbers

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id43.html)

2009-2010 Roundup Schedule

(http://thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/roundup-schedule-2009-2010/)

Frequently Asked Questions on Wild Horses

(http://www.wildmustangcoalition.org/id44.html)

# # #

November 18, 2009

A Unified Call for an Immediate Moratorium on Wild Horse & Burro Roundups

And a humane, fiscally responsible plan for preserving and protecting the iconic,

free-roaming wild horses and burros of the American West

President Obama, Members of Congress and the Department of the Interior:

We, the undersigned, request major changes to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Wild Horse and Burro program. This must begin with an immediate moratorium on all roundups. While we agree that the program is in dire need of reform, and we applaud your Administration's commitment to avoid BLM’s suggested mass-killing of horses, the plan outlined in October by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar raises numerous concerns. These include:

In reality, the BLM has no accurate current inventory of the 37,000 wild horses and burros it claims remain on public lands. Independent analysis of BLM’s own numbers reveal there may be only 15,000 wild horses remaining on public lands.

Removing tens of thousands of horses and burros from their legally-designated Western ranges and moving them into government-run facilities subverts the intent of the 1971 Wild Free-roaming Horse and Burro Act, which mandated that horses be preserved “where presently found.” A 2009 DC district court case held that “Congress did not authorize BLM to “manage” the wild horses and burros by corralling them for private maintenance or long-term care as non-wild free-roaming animals off the public lands.”

We appreciate your Administration's recognition of the horses’ value as an ecotourism resource. However, the display of captive, non-reproducing herds in eastern pastures renders them little more than zoo exhibits, further discounting the contribution to our history and the future of the American West.

We believe that workable solutions to create a healthy “multiple use” of public rangelands, protect the ecological balance of all wildlife, and preserve America's wild horses and burros in their rightful, legally protected home can be achieved. We are calling on the Obama Administration to reform the BLM's Wild Horse and Burro Management Program.

We ask that you reverse the current course and immediately take the following actions:

1) Place a moratorium on all roundups until accurate and independent assessments of population numbers and range conditions are made available and a final, long-term solution is formalized.

2) Restore protections included in the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. Update existing laws that protect wild horses by reopening certain public lands to the mustangs and burros, thus decreasing the number in captivity. Return healthy wild horses and burros in holding to all available acres of public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. If these lands are not available, equivalent and appropriate western public lands should be added in their place.

3) Support federal grazing permit buybacks. Reduce livestock grazing and reanalyze appropriate management levels for herd management areas to allow for self-sustaining, genetically viable herds to exist in the west.

4) Conduct Congressional hearings regarding the mismanagement of our wild herds and further investigate the inability of BLM to correct the shortcomings of the program as audited by the Government Accountability Office’s 1990, 1991 and 2008 reports.

Supported by the undersigned on November 18, 2009.

(http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/Supporter-List.doc)